Asian shares slip, euro probes lows

Friday, 18 July 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: Asian equities dipped on Thursday, giving up earlier modest gains as Chinese shares fell, while the euro probed recent lows against the dollar amid speculation the U.S. Federal Reserve was tilting towards tighter monetary policy. Spreadbetters expected European stock markets to follow suit, forecasting Britain’s FTSE 100 would open as much as 0.25% lower, Germany’s DAX down 0.15% and France’s CAC 40 off 0.3%. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.2% after rising earlier in the session after another record closing high on Wall Street.

The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.8% as investors moved from blue chips to some beaten-down growth stocks and kept money aside for initial public offerings (IPOs). Tokyo’s Nikkei shed 0.2% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.4%. The dollar was generally higher after disappointing economic reports in Europe and comments by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen this week that suggested rate rises may come sooner than expected, with signs a recovery in the economy was taking hold. The dollar was little changed at 101.50 yen, having gained about 0.4% so far this week against the Japanese currency. The euro stood at $1.3523, not far from a one-month low of $1.3520 hit the previous day. In commodities, U.S. crude oil extended gains after rising more than $1 the previous day after government data showed a sharp fall in U.S. stocks last week. U.S. crude was up 0.25% at $101.45 a barrel. Aluminium held steady after touching a 16-month high on Wednesday in light of upbeat data from top consumer China at a time of producer cutbacks and eroding inventories. Benchmark three-month aluminium on the London Metal Exchange was up 0.1% at $1,972 a tonne after surging to $1,993 on Wednesday, the highest since March 2013. Shanghai copper fell to its lowest in a fortnight as jitters over a possible bond default in China’s construction sector triggered a round of profit-taking. The most active September copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange slid 1% to 50,050 yuan ($8,100)a tonne.