Asian stocks fell, with the regional index headed for its biggest monthly drop since May 2012, amid tensions in Hong Kong and as a Chinese manufacturing gauge missed estimates. The dollar pared its largest quarterly advance since the global financial crisis. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average is up 6.5 percent in the quarter, set for the steepest climb among 24 developed markets tracked by Bloomberg. The Nikkei 225 fell 1 percent today as Toyota Motor Corp. slipped 1.3 percent amid a U.S. inquiry into unintended acceleration in its Corolla sedans. New Zealand’s dollar climbed 0.6 percent to 78.06 U.S. cents today. The co-called kiwi has weakened more than 10 percent since the end of June as the Reserve Bank sold the currency and officials including Prime Minister John Key and RBNZ Governor Graeme Wheeler talked it down. That’s the worst performance of any of the 16 major peers to the U.S. dollar during the period. The dollar pared its best quarterly gain since 2008 as technical indicators signaled the rally has been too rapid. A gauge of the U.S. dollar against 10 major peers reached its most overbought level yesterday on record going back to 2005. The U.S. currency has climbed at least 1.7 percent against all of its 16 most active counterparts since June 30 on prospects the Federal Reserve will boost borrowing costs next year. The dollars of Australia and New Zealand rallied, paring the worst monthly declines among Group of 10 currencies. The dollar fell 0.1 percent to 109.35 yen at 7:05 a.m. in London from yesterday, when it climbed to 109.75, the highest since August 2008. The greenback fell 0.1 percent to $1.2694 per euro after appreciating to $1.2664 yesterday, the strongest since November 2012. The euro weakened versus the yen before data today that may show annual consumer prices in the region probably rose 0.3 percent this month, the least since October 2009, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. West Texas Intermediate headed for the biggest quarterly decline in more than two years amid speculation that rising crude output would buffer the market from potential supply disruptions in the Middle East. Gold prices dipped in Asia on Tuesday with civil unrest in Hong Kong a continued focus as is data from China on manufacturing. Gold futures for December delivery traded at $1,215.90 a troy ounce, down 0.04%, after hitting an overnight session low of $1,215.90 and off a high of $1,223.90.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 07:00:15 +0000
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