Asia report: Shares fall on US rate jitters; Adani saga rumbles on
By Frank Prenesti
Date: Monday 06 Feb 2023
(Sharecast News) - Asian were lower on Monday as better-than-expected US payroll data sparked concerns that the Federal Reserve could keep increasing rates to quell inflation, while in India, the crisis engulfing the Adani group showed no signs of abating.
There were also concerns about renewed tensions between China and the US after a Chinese surveillance balloon was shot down in American airspace over the weekend. Beijing claims it was a weather balloon that drifted off course.
On equities markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 2.2%, with property and technology stocks leading losses. China's Shenzhen Component was down 1.25% and the Shanghai Composite was 0.9% lower.
In South Korea, the Kospi fell 1.7% to 2,438.19 while in Australia the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.25% to 7,539.00 after retail trade volume fell by 0.2% in the final quarter of 2022 compared to the previous quarter, according to seasonally adjusted data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The decline is less than the 0.6% drop expected by economists.
Japan's Nikkei 225 bucked the trend and gained 0.67% to 2,7693.65 encouraged by hopes the BOJ would keep policy easy.
In India the S&P Sensex fell 0.66% as stocks of Adani Group mostly fell as allegations of stock manipulation and accounting fraud raised by Hindenburg raises concerns of spillover effects on wider Indian markets and Wall Street lenders.
The country's parliament was suspended after lawmakers clashed over calls for a formal inquiry into founder and chairman Gautam Adani - major ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index showed Gautam Adani's net worth fell further on Friday - by more than 51.1%, or $61.6bn - in the year to date.
Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com
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