Stocks were mixed as major Asian indexes rose and US futures fell after post-market slumps in Google parent Alphabet and Microsoft marred a three-day rally on Wall Street. Equities rose in China, Japan and South Korea while contracts for the Nasdaq 100 slid.
Alphabet dropped as much as 7% in after-market trading on revenue that came in below expectations and Microsoft lost 8% following a disappointing revenue forecast. Positive signs for Asia included China’s central bank and foreign-exchange regulator indicating they would maintain the healthy development of stock and bond markets, while reiterating that the yuan would be “basically stable.”
A near 5% rebound in a gauge of US-listed Chinese stocks on Tuesday helped claw back some of the record loss suffered in the wake of President Xi Jinping breaking with China’s collective leadership.
Hong Kong’s tech gauge made strong gains for a second day but was still short of recouping Monday’s near 10% slide. A gauge of the dollar was unchanged while the pound fell on a report that UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was considering a delay to next week’s planned fiscal statement. The yen weakened to around 148 per dollar ahead of the Bank of Japan’s policy decision Friday, when monetary settings are expected to be kept unchanged.
