SYDNEY, Aug 16 — Asian share markets slipped today after a raft of Chinese data showed a surprisingly sharp slowdown in the engine of global growth, just as much of the world races to stem the spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19 with vaccinations.
“China is in the midst of removing policy supports, which looks likely to restrain domestic demand growth and weigh on regional performance through the rest of this year,” he added. “With these drags building in recent weeks we have been lowering 2H21 regional growth forecasts.” Chinese blue chips were hanging onto gains of 0.3 per cent, perhaps in anticipation of a more aggressive policy easing from Beijing.Nasdaq futures and S&P 500 futures were both down 0.2 per cent. EUROSTOXX 50 futures fell 0.4 per cent and FTSE futures 0.6 per cent.
The euro bounced to US$1.1799 and away from major chart support at US$1.1740, while the dollar recoiled to 109.36 yen leaving behind last week’s peak of 110.79.