Asian stocks mixed, Japan edges lower as yen rises

Sydney - Stocks in Asia were mixed on Thursday as heightened equity volatility and a slide in megacap US technology shares gave investors pause. The dollar headed lower after days of gains.

Equities reversed initial gains in Japan as the yen retraced some of its big slide overnight. Shares fluctuated throughout the region in subdued trading, with many traders wrapping up ahead of the Easter holiday.

The surge in volatility and the sell-off in tech shares showed no signs of letting up in the US, and the S&P 500 Index held just above its average price for the past 200 days - a level that’s set a line in the sand in the recent selloffs.

Ten-year Treasury yields remained below 2.80%.

Investors are selling some of the biggest winners from the bull market in equities at a time when nerves are being tested by rising interest rates and an unpredictable Trump administration that stoked fears of conflict over trade.

The rout in technology, where volatility is rising faster than the broader market, is deepening as the quarter draws to a close.

"We’ve done some damage with the correction and it’s going to take some time to repair,"  Bob Doll, portfolio manager and chief equity strategist at Nuveen Asset Management, told Bloomberg TV. "Expect choppy, sideways volatility."

Markets in India are closed on Thursday and many major trading venues across the world will be shut on Friday for Easter holidays.
Elsewhere, oil rebounded from its longest losing streak in almost a month, even as US crude stockpiles resumed their expansion. Gold steadied after Wednesday’s decline.

Here’s a list of some key events on the docket for the remainder of this week:

GDP reports are due from Canada, Turkey, while inflation reads in France, Italy and Germany are released.

And these are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.2% as of 1:42 pm Tokyo time. Topix index fell 0.1%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.2%. Kospi index rose 0.2%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 0.5%. Futures on the S&P 500 Index fell 0.1%.

Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%. The Japanese yen rose 0.3% to 106.54 per dollar. The euro rose 0.2% to $1.2329.

Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell one basis point to 2.77%. Japan’s 10-year yield rose less than one basis point to 0.043%. Australia’s 10-year yield fell one basis point to 2.586%.

Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.5% to $64.67 a barrel. Gold rose 0.2% to $1 327.41 an ounce. LME copper rose 0.6% to $6 703.50 per metric tonne.