Asia stocks muted on prospect Fed to trim stimulus

A woman walks past a screen showing the world stock index at Hong Kong Stock Exchange in Hong Kong, Wednesday. AP

MUMBAI, India—Asian stocks markets were muted Friday despite an uptick in China’s manufacturing as investors continued to fret that the Fed will begin cutting its stimulus as soon as January.

Two measures of China’s manufacturing improved in October in a possible sign of economic recovery. China’s growth rebounded to 7.8 percent in the three months ended September from the previous quarter’s two-decade low but there are doubts whether the improvement will continue over the remainder of the year.

Worries about less expansive US monetary stimulus continued to preoccupy investors. Stocks fell in Tokyo, Australia, Taiwan and Singapore fell. Greater China benchmarks were mixed.

The Federal Reserve’s announcement this week that it would maintain its monthly bond purchases at $85 billion was widely expected. But the central bank no longer expressed concern, as it did in September, that higher mortgage rates could hold back hiring and economic growth. And its statement made no reference to the 16-day government shutdown, which economists say slowed growth this quarter. Some analysts said that suggests reduction of the stimulus could begin early next year.

The U.S. central bank’s cheap money policy is aimed at supporting economic recovery and has also underpinned stock markets worldwide for several years

Speculation about the timing of the reduction in stimulus — known as tapering — will likely continue to roil markets in coming months, said Chris Weston, chief market strategist at IG in Melbourne, Australia.

“The Asian session has been pretty lifeless today,” Weston said in a market commentary. “Despite it mattering very little whether tapering occurs in January or March, we are still likely to see a negative equity response.”

Japan’s Nikkei 225, the regional heavyweight, fell 0.9 percent to 14,201.57, weighed down by the dollar falling below 98 yen and a 12 percent plunge in Sony Corp. shares after it Thursday reported a 19.3 billion yen ($196 million) quarterly loss.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng crept up 0.4 percent to 23,290.46 while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.4 percent to 5,411.10. Markets in Taiwan, Singapore and Indonesia fell. Seoul’s Kospi added 0.5 percent to 2,039.42.

The exception to a dull Friday came in India’s stock market, where a modest gain was enough to push the Sensex to a record high — a stunning comeback from a few months ago when the bourse plunged and the Indian rupee fell to a lifetime low as foreign investors withdrew amid a bout of worry about withdrawal of the Fed’s stimulus.

Much of that foreign money has returned now that the rupee has stabilized at a lower level, making Indian stocks a bargain.

“I think clearly the largest driver of the market high is foreign currency inflow,” said Rajiv Mehta, an analyst with IIFL Capital in Mumbai. “Many people seem to think the worst is over.”

On Wall Street, the Dow lost 73.01 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 15,545.75. The S&P 500 fell 6.77 points, 0.4 percent, to 1,756.54.

The Nasdaq composite dropped 10.91 points, or 0.3 percent, to 3,919.71.

Benchmark U.S. crude for December delivery was up 21 cents at $96.59 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract had dropped 39 cents to close $96.38 on Thursday.

In currency trading, the euro was down at $1.3550 from $1.3586 late Thursday. The dollar fell to 97.95 yen from 98.31 yen.