Asian shares barely managed to hold firm on Monday after a tumultuous week for global equities.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was last up 0.3 percent after rising just over 0.5 percent earlier in the day. The losses in Asia were largely led by China’s blue-chip index which tumbled 2.5 percent following disappointing earnings from the country’s top liquor maker Kweichow Moutai.
Chinese data over the weekend also underscored worries of a cooling economy as profit growth at its industrial firms slowed for the fifth consecutive month in September as sales of raw materials and manufactured goods ebbed.
Citibank has projected China’s real economic growth to slow to 6.4 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter “amid trade headwinds and domestic uncertainties,” compared to a 6.8 percent rise at the start of the year. “As lagging indicators, overall industrial revenue and profit should continue to soften accordingly,” it said.
Wider sentiment in global financial markets has been hit by a range of negative factors from an intensifying China-U.S. trade conflict to worries about U.S. corporate earnings to Italian budget woes as well as Federal Reserve rate increases.
Japan’s Nikkei slipped 0.1 percent, having climbed 1 percent earlier while South Korea’s KOSPI eased 0.4 percent. Shanghai’s SSE Composite faltered 1.5 percent.
E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 and Dow minis declined about 0.1 percent each, after rising as much as 0.4 percent earlier in the day. Australian shares, up 1.2 percent, were a rare bright spot.
Analysts warn of more volatility after heavy losses across major equity indices left investors with negative returns for the year. Bears are on the rise, with some indices already in official correction territory amid heightened worries over corporate earnings and global growth.
