HONG KONG, Aug 9 — Asian shares were down today as financial markets fretted about persistent global cost pressures, with investors turning their focus this week to US inflation data and the prospects for further aggressive Federal Reserve rate hikes.
“The priority of reducing inflation to underpin the expansion in domestic demand and sustainable jobs growth will ring loud and clear from the 25-27 August Jackson Hole symposium.” Early in the Asian trading day, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.2 per cent. The index is up 0.5 per cent so far this month. US stock futures rose 0.07 per cent.China’s blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.31 per cent in early trade. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index opened 0.
There were some encouraging signs for the Fed on the prices front, with a New York Fed survey yesterday showing consumers’ inflation expectations fell sharply in July.