Asian stocks inch away from 10-month low, rate jitters linger
Asian shares eased away from their lowest levels in 10 months but were on course to clock their worst quarterly performance in a year as worries over elevated interest rates dragged on sentiment, while the dollar held strong.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.59% higher but not far off the 10-month low it touched on Thursday.
The index is set for 5% drop in the July-September period, its worst quarterly performance since a 13.6% drop in the same period last year.
Japan's Nikkei was 0.10% lower, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.21%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 0.64%.
The Chinese markets were closed for a holiday and are on a break next week.
Focus will be on the Chinese property sector after China Evergrande Group said its founder is being investigated over suspected «illegal crimes».
Meanwhile, data showed the U.S.
economy maintained a fairly solid pace of growth in the second quarter and activity appears to have accelerated this quarter, but a looming government shutdown and an ongoing strike by auto workers are dimming the outlook for the rest of 2023.
«During the most recent Fed press conference, (Fed Chair Jerome) Powell mentioned that while the Fed doesn't target levels of real GDP, it evaluates whether it poses a risk to achieving the 2% inflation target,» said Ryan Brandham, head of global capital markets, North America at Validus Risk Management.
«From this perspective, the current GDP figure is not seen as a significant threat and may provide some comfort in an otherwise concerning inflationary environment.»
Investors will now switch their attention to U.S. personal consumption expenditures price index later on Friday for the latest view on inflation.
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