Shares across Asia Pacific struggled to push higher in spite of a rally on Wall Street as investor fears waned over the potential for a disputed result in the US presidential election.
Japan’s Topix index edged up 0.2 per cent on Tuesday as South Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.2 per cent. China’s CSI 300 index of Shanghai- and Shenzhen-listed stocks was flat, while Hong Kong’s market was closed due to a typhoon.
On Monday, the CSI 300 jumped 3 per cent on expectations of new policy announcements later this week from Xi Jinping, China’s president. The rally took China’s onshore stock market capitalisation above $10tn for the first time since a stock bubble burst in the country five years ago, according to Bloomberg data.
China’s currency inched lower with the onshore-traded renminbi weakening 0.1 per cent to Rmb6.7513 against the dollar. The renminbi fell as much as 0.9 per cent on Monday after the country’s central bank cut the cost of betting against the currency, which has rallied in recent weeks.
The tepid performance of Chinese shares on Tuesday came even as data showed imports into the country rose by their fastest rate this year in September, signalling that an economic recovery is fuelling higher demand for overseas goods.
Imports rose 13.2 per cent in dollar terms last month compared to a year earlier, according to customs data. Economists had forecast a rise of just 0.4 per cent. “The domestic recovery has gained pace,” said Tommy Wu, an economist at Oxford Economics.
Futures for Wall Street’s S&P 500 were down 0.4 per cent in Asian trading on Tuesday. Turnover for these contracts is often light during the Asian day, exacerbating volatility.
The S&P 500 closed 1.6 per cent higher on Monday and the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.6 per cent as polls pointed to a decisive result for the US presidential election on November 3.
Democratic challenger Joe Biden’s lead of roughly 10 points in national polls over Republican incumbent Donald Trump just three weeks out from the elections has helped calm market nerves over the potential for a contested result, analysts said.
“Equity market participants seem to have become less concerned about the chances of a contested election without a clear winner that could drag on for weeks,” said Tobias Levkovich, US equity strategist at Citigroup.
Expectations were also growing for an expanded stimulus programme under a Biden presidency, enabled by a so-called “blue wave” were the Democrats also to take control of the US Senate and House of Representatives.
Additional reporting by Thomas Hale in Hong Kong