By Kevin Buckland
TOKYO (Reuters) – Asian stocks slid on Thursday as chip-sector stocks tracked overnight declines by Wall Street peers and Facebook owner Meta Platforms warned of accelerating costs for artificial intelligence.
More megacap tech earnings are due later in the day from Apple and Amazon.
The yen hovered close to a three-month low against the dollar, weighed down by political instability after a drubbing for Japan’s ruling coalition in parliamentary elections last weekend, which could delay a normalisation of monetary policy.
The Bank of Japan will announce a rate decision on Thursday, with no change widely expected.
More broadly, the dollar was on the back foot after extending its retreat from near a three-month peak to major peers on Wednesday. Traders were looking ahead warily to a pivotal week that includes monthly U.S. non-farm payrolls on Friday, the presidential election next Tuesday and a Federal Reserve policy decision next Thursday. Gold extended its record high.
Japan’s Nikkei share average fell 0.5% as of 0155 GMT. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 1.3%.
North Korea stirred regional tensions by test firing what a U.S. official said was an intercontinental ballistic missile into the sea off the reclusive nation’s east coast on Thursday.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.2%, but mainland Chinese blue chips slipped 0.7%. Investors are awaiting more clarity on stimulus from Beijing next week, when officials convene a week-long congress.
Taiwanese markets were shuttered due to a typhoon.
Nasdaq futures pointed 0.45% lower after the cash index declined 0.56% overnight. The Philadelphia SE semiconductor index slumped 3.35%, with Advanced Micro Devices tumbling more than 10% following dour forecasts.
The U.S. dollar index was steady at 104.15 following its pullback from the highest since Aug. 2 at 104.63 reached on Tuesday.
The dollar edged up 0.05% to 153.48 yen staying close to this week’s high of 153.885 yen, a level previously not seen since July 31.
There is no set time for the BOJ’s policy announcement, but it is expected some time after 0230 GMT. BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said while in Washington last week that the central bank could afford the time to scrutinise risks to the economy in deciding when to raise rates again.
“Japan’s messy political situation is a boon for currency speculators,” said Shoki Omori, chief Japan desk strategist at Mizuho Securities. But for the most part, “the ball is on the dollar side,” he said.
“If the U.S. sees more mixed data, we might see higher volatility in the pair,” Omori said. “Non-farm payrolls is going to change the picture if it comes out completely different from consensus.”
The personal consumption expenditures index, the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, is also due later on Thursday.
Meanwhile, in the final stretch of the U.S. presidential contest, opinion polls still put Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris neck-and-neck, although financial markets and some betting platforms have been leaning toward a Trump victory.
Gold reached a fresh all-time high of $2,790.15 per ounce.
Oil prices extended a rally from Wednesday, driven by optimism over U.S. fuel demand following an unexpected drop in crude and gasoline inventories. [O/R]
Brent crude futures gained 0.5% to $72.90 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures climbed 0.5% to $68.93 per barrel. Both contracts rose more than 2% in the previous session.
(Reporting by Kevin Buckland; Editing by Jamie Freed)
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