Asian Stock Market: Nikkei 225, ASX 200 move around 0.50% amid quiet session

• Asian shares dribble amid a light calendar on Thanksgiving Day.
• Traders ignore headlines concerning China, BOK moves and Aussie Capex data.

Asian equities fizzle the recent upside momentum on early Thursday as a lack of major data/events joined the US Thanksgiving Day holiday. That said, MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rises 0.37% while Japan’s Nikkei 225 adds 0.46% by press time.

Chatters that the US announced sanctions on the four companies from Russia and China, concerning the Iran missile program, initially triggered the trade war fears in Asia. The pessimism gained momentum as Washington and Beijing both haven’t yet traded half of what was agreed in the trade deal during the 10 months. Additionally, an update from China’s Securities Journal suggesting that the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) will not alter interest rates in the short-term also disappointed the Asian traders. Against this backdrop, shares in China trade mildly negative while those from Hong Kong struggle for a clear direction.

Elsewhere, Germany announced an extension of the partial lockdown measures to December 20, 2020, while Spain and the UK are likely limiting the Christmas celebration to tame the coronavirus (COVID-19). The reason could be traced from the spike in the global cases to cross the 60 million mark.

Amid these negatives, coupled with the absence of the US traders and downbeat American data published on Wednesday, market sentiment lost the previous day’s upside momentum. Though, vaccine hopes and expectations that US President-elect Joe Biden will be able combat the pandemic with heavy stimulus stopped bears from entering the markets.

It should also be noted that Australian Private Capital Expenditure (Capex) for the third quarter (Q3) dropped more than -1.5% forecast to -3.0%. This might have weighed on the ASX 200, down 0.50% intraday, while also challenging the NZX 50 that wobbles with less than 0.10% losses even if the RBNZ Governor Arian Orr favored fiscal stimulus.

Further, the Bank of Korea (BOK) left benchmark interest rates unchanged during today’s monetary policy meeting. Governor Lee Ju-yeol mentioned that the worst seems to be over for the economy. Though, his comments could help KOSPI as it dwindles near 2,600 at the time of writing.

Even as the lack of major data/events and US holiday could restrict the intraday market moves, bears may find strong hurdles amid hopes of stimulus from the US, expectations of the covid vaccine.