TOKYO: Asian shares slid for a seventh day, their longest losing streak of the year, and the dollar extended gains versus the yen. Australia’s currency strengthened after retail sales and trade figures beat estimates, while crude oil climbed toward $45 a barrel.
The MSCI Asia Pacific excluding Japan Index sank to a four-week low, while U.S. and U.K. stock index futures advanced. Malaysia’s ringgit fell to its weakest level since March as the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index held near a one-week high. The Aussie advanced against all of its G-10 counterparts. Crude rallied after data showed U.S. output fell the most in eight months and as wildfires disrupted production in Canada. Financial markets are shut for holidays in Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and Thailand.
April data for manufacturing and services in the world’s leading economies point to a subdued outlook for global growth, while falling corporate earnings in the U.S. are giving investors little cause to revive an equities rally that’s petered out over the past two weeks. Stan Druckenmiller, the billionaire investor with one of the best long-term track records in money management, said Wednesday the bull market in stocks has “exhausted itself” and that gold is his largest currency allocation.
“Markets seem to be at something of a crossroads at present, waiting for clearer signals on whether U.S. activity will bounce back in the second quarter,” Sharon Zollner, a senior economist in Auckland at ANZ Bank New Zealand Ltd., said in a client note. “If the global economy were to tip into recession at some point, what ammo, precisely, do central banks have left that won’t do more harm than good?”
Federal Reserve Bank chiefs in Atlanta and San Francisco said this week that a June interest-rate hike could be on the cards and a U.S. employment report on Friday will help shape the market’s assessment of the likelihood, which Fed Funds futures currently put at about 10 percent. A private-sector report on Thursday showed growth in China’s services output moderated in April, while the European Central Bank is due to publish its monthly Economic Bulletin.
The MSCI Asia Pacific excluding Japan Index fell 0.3 percent as of 11:13 a.m. in Hong Kong, with all 10 industry groups posting losses.
National Australia Bank Ltd. jumped as much as 4.1 percent after it reported an increase in profit. Crown Resorts Ltd., the gaming company of James Packer, jumped 4.2 percent after announcing the sale of an $800 million stake in its Macau venture .
Futures on the S&P 500 Index rose 0.3 percent, while those on the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index were up 0.6 percent. Contracts on the Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 0.1 percent in Singapore, after sliding 1.2 percent in the last two sessions.
The dollar rose 0.1 percent to 107.09 yen, building on a 0.6 percent gain over the last two days. Japanese markets resume Friday after a three-day holiday. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index climbed 1.2 percent over the last two days as the probability that the Fed will raise interest rates this year climbed back above 50 percent. U.S. employers added at least 200,000 workers for a third month in April, according to a Bloomberg survey before the Labor Department releases the data on May 6.
“We’re probably at a bit of an inflection point for the dollar,” said Ray Attrill, co-head of currency strategy at National Australia Bank Ltd. in Sydney. “We’ve come down a long way with virtually any tightening in 2016 priced out, but we’re at a point when there’s almost too much bad news in the dollar. Having said that, we’re on guard for a softer employment number.”
Australia’s dollar strengthened 0.5 percent versus the greenback. The nation’s retail sales increased 0.4 percent in March from the previous month, while the trade deficit was smaller than economists forecast.
The Philippine peso fell to a two-month low as the May 9 presidential election draws closer. The currency has been weakening for three weeks as the mayor of Davao City, Rodrigo Duterte, rises in opinion polls. Duterte ranked third in a Bloomberg survey last month that asked analysts who was the best candidate to run the economy.
The Turkish lira strengthened 0.6 percent versus the dollar. It tumbled 3.8 percent on Wednesday as markets reacted to a deepening rift between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu that’s set to end with the premier stepping down from his job later this month.
West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 2.1 percent to $44.71 a barrel, after a late-in-the-day rebound on Wednesday left it up 0.3 percent.
U.S. oil production dropped by 113,000 barrels a day to 8.83 million a day last week, the lowest level since September 2014, according to an Energy Information Administration report out Wednesday. Fires in Canada may affect more than 1 million barrels a day of capacity, according to company statements and data published in Alberta’s Spring Oil Sands Quarterly.
“The trend of declining U.S. production is a real positive,” Michael McCarthy, chief strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney, said by phone. “I expect prices will probably touch the $48 to $50 zone. We will have to see significant inroads into crude stockpiles to push through that area.”
Gold for immediate delivery rose 0.1 percent, after sliding more than 1 percent over the last three days.