Asian stocks start the week lower amid US rate hike concerns; STI down 0.8%

ASIAN stocks mostly fell on Monday, tracking losses on Wall Street last Friday amid concerns that the US Federal Reserve may raise interest rates sooner than expected.

The local Straits Times Index (STI) fell 0.8 per cent or 26.29 points on Monday to 3,117.87.

Elsewhere in the region, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 3.3 per cent, while the ASX 200 in Australia dropped 1.8 per cent. Both the KLCI in Malaysia and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 1.1 per cent.

The losses follow comments last Friday by James Bullard, president of the St Louis Federal Reserve, who said he sees rate increases happening as early as next year to contain inflation.

Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at Oanda, noted that the major casualty has been the global reflation and cyclical recovery trade, but said the dip in stocks appears to be corrective.

"I suspect the falls are primarily a function of financial markets being very long the global recovery trade. Interest rates are going nowhere fast, and the world's central banks have not closed the liquidity spigots," he added.

"That said, the unwinding still has plenty of juice in it, and this week could be a tough one for equities unless some of the Fed doves hit the newswires in force."

On the local bourse, losers outnumbered gainers 327 to 188 on Monday after 1.79 billion shares worth S$1.41 billion changed hands.

TVV , which is currently in a dispute with its controlling shareholder, was among the top actives, with 69.4 million shares worth S$39.2 million chancing hands. The counter rose 17 per cent to S$0.585 on Monday, extending last Friday's 51.5 per cent gain, which came after it said it received a letter of intent from Indonesia-based payments and remittance company Dompet Harapan Bangsa (OY!) for an equity stake.

H78 shares led the losses on the STI on Monday, falling 3 per cent or US$0.15 to close at US$4.88. AJBU was the top index performer for Monday, with its units climbing 0.8 per cent or S$0.02 to close at S$2.57.