Asian stock market: Trades mixed amid virus woes, US-China tussle and a light calendar

• Asian equities drift as a lack of major data/events fails to extend Wall Street’s tech rally.
• Coronavirus worries, Sino-American tension adds to the downside pressure.
• Hong Kong Leader Carry Lam takes the US sanctions issue to WTO, America adds 38 Huawei facilities to the blacklist.
• China claims cure to the pandemic, signals strategic use.

Asian shares waver amid mixed news and a lack of major data/events ahead of Tuesday’s European session. While portraying the mood, MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares ex-Japan rises 0.30% whereas Japan’s Nikkei 225 drops the same 0.30% as we write. In doing so, the risk barometers fail to follow Nasdaq’s gains that mainly took clues from a rally tech shares.

Not only Asian equities but S&P 500 Futures and the US 10-year Treasury yields also struggle for direction. Even if the S&P 500 Futures seesaw near the six-month high, US treasury yields fail to pick-up bids under 0.70%.

On analyzing further details, it becomes clear that Australia’s ASX 200 cheers the lowest coronavirus (COVID-19) count in a month despite China’s anti-dumping probe on the Aussie wines. Further, New Zealand’s NZX 50 surge over 1.50% amid hopes of further stimulus due to the latest virus resurgence. Additionally, stocks in China and Hong Kong remain mildly bid despite the latest news suggesting Hong Kong Leader Carry Lam’s attempt to challenge the US sanctions in the World Trade Organization (WTO). The market sentiment might have taken clues from the Global Times headlines suggesting China’s nearness to the COVID-19 vaccine and readiness to use it strategically.

Elsewhere, Indonesia’s IDX Composite rises 1.3% following upbeat trade numbers, which South Korea’s KOSPI failed to witness and drops 0.30%. Further, India’s BSE Sensex adds 0.60% while the Philippines PSEi Composite gain more than 1.00% amid economic optimism at home.

While the economic calendar fails to offer any key catalysts, traders kept checking the Sino-American tension and knew that Trump administration blocked an additional 38 facilities from Huawei recently. This joins the recent surge in European virus figures, in contrast to receding data from Asia-Pacific and the US, to challenge the risk-tone sentiment.