Asia Stocks Fall As Wall Street Rally Skids

Asian shares fell on Thursday, December 21, 2023, after Wall Street snapped a long winning streak, while Treasury yields were near five-month lows on hopes that Britain's notably soft inflation reading would be echoed in looming US price data, Julie Zhu reported for Reuters.

US stock futures, the S&P 500 e-minis, were up 0.17%. Australian shares were down 0.4%, while Japan's Nikkei stock index slid 1.49%. I Photo: New York Stock Exchange Facebook

Early in the Asian trading day, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.6%, after US stocks tumbled to close sharply lower in the previous session. The index is up 1.7% so far this month.

US stock futures, the S&P 500 e-minis, were up 0.17%. Australian shares were down 0.4%, while Japan's Nikkei stock index slid 1.49%.

China's blue-chip CSI300 index remained flat in early trade. It is on track for a sixth straight weekly loss, which could be its worst weekly performance in 12 years and a record fifth consecutive monthly loss.

The equities rally, which had been driven by falling interest rates and the Federal Reserve's dovish turn, stalled on Thursday even after US economic data that beat expectations initially turned the major indices green. A far steeper-than-expected decline in British inflation also took markets by surprise.

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