Kevin Backlund
TOKYO (Reuters) – Technology shares led selling in Asian stocks while the yen and U.S. Treasuries rebounded as global investors struggled to find their footing in a turbulent market week.
Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 1% from the previous day as shares in the semiconductor sector were the biggest drag on the index. Despite a two-day rebound after Monday's 12.4% plunge, the Nikkei has now fallen more than 3% this week.
Meanwhile, Taiwan's tech-heavy stock index fell 2%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1%.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares fell 0.8%.
“Asian markets could be important today as many were buying the dips in hopes that real buying would continue and the upside momentum would pick up,” said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone.
“It's clear that it's not fully permitted yet.”
Futures on Wall Street were weak, with S&P 500 futures down 0.24% and Nasdaq futures down 0.14%, following declines of about 0.8% and 1.1%, respectively, in the spot indexes on Wednesday.
Pan-European STOXX 50 futures fell 1.2%.
The yen, which generally benefits from weakening market sentiment, rose 0.86% to 145.43 yen per dollar before trading 0.3% higher at 146.17 yen. The Swiss franc, another traditional safe haven currency, rose 0.3% to 0.8592 yen per dollar.
The dollar/yen pair also tends to be sensitive to movements in long-term U.S. Treasury yields, which fell to 3.977%, about half of their overnight rise, and were last at 3.92% during Asian trading hours.
The dollar index against the yen, franc, euro and three other major currencies was down slightly at 103.09, while the euro rose slightly to $1.0925.
Currencies, particularly the yen, were thrown into turmoil last week by a shift in expectations toward steady interest rate hikes by the Bank of Japan and aggressive rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, with the dollar falling to 141.675 yen on Monday for the first time since the beginning of the year.
US weekly jobless claims data, due later in the day, could signal market movement after weak monthly payrolls figures on Friday intensified fears of a US recession.
Meanwhile, crude oil prices continued to rise following data released the previous day showing a larger-than-expected fall in U.S. crude oil inventories.
Brent crude futures rose 0.3% to $78.56 a barrel, following a 2.4% gain on Wednesday, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.4% to $75.52, following a 2.8% gain overnight.
(Reporting by Kevin Buckland; Editing by Sri Navaratnam)
