The headquarters of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in Beijing, China. Picture: REUTERS
The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.1%. South Korea’s KOSPI fell 0.1%, Australian stocks added 0.5%.“The equity markets are facing some headwinds after their recent large gains,” said Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management. “That said, market sentiment is still relatively well supported as recent Chinese indicators proved to be strong and prompted the markets to readjust their views on the global economy.
Safe havens such as bonds, which were on the defensive following the recent improvement in investor risk appetite, were given some reprieve. The dollar, which tends to underperform when risk appetite increases, was steady at 96.980 against a basket of six major currencies, extending overnight losses.