MSCI Inc.’s Asia Pacific Index declined 0.4% while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index slid as much as 1.5% before paring losses. Shares of some Korean drama production studios also slipped after Netflix Inc.’s subscriber numbers trailed Wall Street estimates.
Futures for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 both declined.
The weakness in the Chinese shares may be due to “people digesting the wave of share reduction in A-Shares and some H-Shares,” said Willer Chen, a senior research analyst at Forsyth Barr Asia.
US two-year yields, which are more sensitive to imminent policy moves than longer maturities, were little changed at 4.20%, while the yield on 10-year bonds held at 3.58%.
Government bonds in Australia and New Zealand dropped, while the dollar was steady. Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. sold yen-denominated Additional Tier 1 bonds, becoming the first major global bank to issue such debt since the collapse of Credit Suisse Group AG last month.
Meanwhile, Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic told CNBC he favors raising interest rates one more time and then holding them above 5% for some time to curb inflation. His St. Louis counterpart James Bullard told Reuters he favors getting rates into a 5.5%-to-5.75% range. The benchmark currently sits between 4.75% and 5%.- BLOOMBERG
