Asian shares slip after tech stock slump on Wall St

BANGKOK: Shares are mostly lower in Asia after Wall Street sagged under weakness in tech stocks. US futures edged lower while oil prices rebounded.

Japan revised upward its GDP data to show the economy contracted less than earlier reported in July-September, in a sign the country weathered its latest big Covid wave with less damage than had been thought.

The Cabinet Office reported Thursday that the economy shrank at a 0.8 per cent annual rate in July-September. That was better than minus 1.2 per cent annual growth reported earlier.

In quarterly terms, the world's third-largest economy contracted 0.2 per cent instead of 0.3 per cent.

Shares rose in Hong Kong as investors studied the potential impact of a rollback of many pandemic restrictions on the Chinese mainland. On Wednesday, rules on isolating people with Covid-19 were eased and virus test requirements were dropped for some public places in a dramatic change to a strategy that had confined millions of people to their homes and sparked protests and demands for President Xi Jinping to resign.

Experts warned, however, that the "zero-Covid'' restrictions can't be lifted completely until at least mid-2023 because millions of elderly people still must be vaccinated and the health care system strengthened.

"Specifically, there are three reasons to be restrained, if not circumspect, on China cheer. First, the simple point that the unwind of entrenched zero-Covid policies will take time and perhaps be a bumpy process rather than a linear path to instant gratification,'' Mizuho Bank said in a commentary.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 2.4 per cent to 19,267.52, while the Shanghai Composite lost 0.2 per cent to 3,193.14. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 sank 0.6 per cent to 7,183.00 and South Korea's Kospi dropped 1 per cent to 2,360.24. Shares also fell in Bangkok, Mumbai and Taiwan.

Wall Street ended a wobbly day of trading with more losses Wednesday, with the S&P 500 down 0.2 per cent in its fifth straight loss. It closed at 3,933.92. Technology and communication services stocks were the biggest weights on the benchmark index. Apple fell 1.4 per cent and Google parent Alphabet dropped 2.1 per cent.

The Nasdaq composite, which is heavily weighted with tech stocks, fell 0.5 per cent to 10,958.55 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average managed a 1.58 point gain, essentially flat, at 33,597.92.

The Russell 2000 index fell 0.3 per cent to 1,806.90.

Treasury yields fell significantly. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which influences mortgage rates, slid to 3.42 per cent from 3.53 per cent late on Tuesday. The two-year Treasury yield, which tends to track market expectations of future action by the Federal Reserve, fell to 4.27 per cent from 4.36 per cent.

Investors have been dealing with a relative lack of news ahead of updates on inflation and consumer sentiment later this week, and the Federal Reserve's meeting next week. Inflation, the Fed's aggressive interest rate increases and recession worries remain the big concerns for Wall Street.