Publications
Partners
Hong Kong - Most Asian markets fell on Monday following healthy gains at the end of last week, with investors betting the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates before the end of the year.
Shares soared on Friday after data showed a first rise in Chinese factory prices for more than four years, fuelling hopes the world's number two economy is reaching the end of a years-long growth slowdown.
Analysts said comments from Fed boss Janet Yellen on Friday suggested the US central bank will lift borrowing costs but at a steady pace.
Yellen said there were plausible ways that running a "high-pressure economy" could help it overcome the damage caused by the global financial crisis.
"If nothing else, this is another lower-for-longer prescription. However, these comments do not preclude a 25-basis-point rate hike this year as another step in the normalisation process," Thomas Simons, senior economist at Jefferies in New York, wrote in a note to clients.
Most experts predict a hike by December at the latest and are keeping a close eye on the release this week of US industrial output and inflation data.
The prospect of higher borrowing costs weighed on Asian markets.
Hong Kong fell 1% and Sydney was 0.5% lower, while Seoul shed 0.2%, Singapore slipped 0.7% and Wellington sank 1.1%. But Tokyo was 0.2% up by the break and Shanghai added 0.1%.
The dollar strengthened on Friday on the prospects of higher rates and maintained its gains in early Asian trade.
The greenback bought 104.18 yen in Tokyo, from 104.16 yen in New York and well up from the 103.66 yen Thursday. The euro and pound also retreated.
In Sydney, Crown Resorts plunged more than 10% on news that 18 sales and marketing staff had been held in China, including an executive in charge of luring high-rollers to Australia.
