Asian shares were mixed on Thursday as investors continued to watch the yield curve in U.S Treasurys, which inverted further overnight.
Asian Shares
- The MSCI Asia ex-Japan index rose 0.08%.
- The Nikkei 225 in Japan close slightly lower at 20,460.93, while the Topix finished its trading day largely flat at 1,490.17.
- In South Korea, the Kospi closed 0.4% lower at 1,933.41.
- Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.1% to end its trading day at 6,507.40.
Bonds
“I think it’s always easy to say it’s different this time. The reality is and it’s tough to sugarcoat it, when the yield curve inverts, it’s usually a very powerful predictor of … at best a slowdown and usually … it’s a recession,” said Omar Slim, senior vice president of fixed income at PineBridge Investments, Singapore.
“The short-end with the 10-year is … where you see most of the inversion and that’s usually because the market is expecting a slowdown,” Slim told CNBC’s “Street Signs” on Thursday. He added that this was driven by fears of recession both in the U.S. as well as elsewhere globally.
- The yields on the 10-year Treasury note and 2-year note were last at 1.4844% and 1.5119%, respectively.
- The 30-year Treasury bond yield fell to an all-time low 1.91%
Currency
- The euro was little changed at $1.1079.
- The British pound fall 0.2% to $1.2186.
- The onshore yuan advanced 0.1% to 7.157 per dollar.
- The Japanese yen was steady at 106.10 per dollar.
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 0.2% to $55.89 a barrel.
- Iron ore declined 1.2% to $80.38 per metric ton.
- Gold gained 0.3% to $1,543.35 an ounce.
Source: CNBC
