Asian stocks were discouraged in weak holiday trading on Monday, as higher oil prices and Treasury yields stoked inflation concerns and investors awaited the release of China’s GDP data. , as well as the monthly activity figures for March.
The Japanese yen reversed losses against the dollar and gold hovered near a five-week high, while oil prices rose on tighter supply concerns after the Libyan National Oil Corporation announced on Sunday the shutdown of production at a major oil field in the south of the country.
Ahead of the Easter weekend break, Brent and WTI contracts gained more than 2.5 percent on Thursday on news that the European Union may gradually ban imports of Russian oil.
US natural gas prices hit a more than 13-year high amid the likelihood of a de facto European Union embargo on Russian gas and the threat of some crude restrictions in Europe’s next sanctions package. .
Japan’s Nikkei fell as much as 1.8 percent on concerns about the Fed’s aggressive tightening in coming months. Seoul shares rose slightly, reversing earlier losses.
China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.8 percent as investors await first-quarter GDP data for clues about the economic damage from Covid lockdowns.
The People’s Bank of China lowered the reserve requirement ratio for most banks by 25 basis points on Friday, lower than economists had expected.
Meanwhile, Shanghai has reported its first death due to COVID-19 since a lockdown was re-imposed to contain the outbreak of the deadly virus in the city.
The markets of Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong remained closed for Easter.
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