(Reuters) – Stocks were flat in early trading in Asia on Thursday as investors cracked the brakes continued to run in asset prices after taking in tight U.S. inflation data and comments from the head of the Reserve Federal confirms prospect for slow recovery.
The Australian S&P / ASX 200 Index last rose 0.02% while e-mini futures for the S&P 500 were up 0.05%.
“Some of the steam has run out of the engine over the last two trading sessions,” said Jarrod Kerr, chief economist at Kiwibank.
“We’ve run well, but the data hasn’t kept up,” Kerr said, noting that bond and stock yields will continue to end the year higher after a halt in trading an reflation.
The stop coincides with many Asians entering an extended holiday for the Lunar New Year.
On Wednesday, markets around the world saw choppy trading and soft movements in most asset prices, with the exception of U.S. Treasury where yields fell after data showed that Inflation remained unusually high in January, disappointing investors in predicting rising price pressures.
The yield on benchmark 10-year finances slipped to 1.135% after rising to 1.176%. On Monday the yield had reached 1.2%, an 11-month high.
The move was confirmed when Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who has pledged to keep interest rates low, said the U.S. labor market was still “far” from full earnings.
Wall Street stock went down from Powell’s comments. Major indices remained little changed, although the Dow Jones industrial average picked up a 0.2% gain to a high of 31,437.80 The S&P 500 slipped 0.03% and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.25% from a near record the day before.
Within the indices, there was further circulation of money from some large technical stocks towards energy segments, financial stocks, expanding market dominance.
European shares also closed lower Wednesday, with the pan-European STOXX 600 index ready 0.2% in the red.
The dollar index moved 0.2% lower after US inflation data tame, posting the third day down on losses against sterling and euro.[FRX/] Bitcoin cryptocurrency went down more than 3% to $ 45,140.10 at 23:27 GMT.
On Tuesday, bitcoin had hit $ 48,216 after Tesla announced a $ 1.5 billion investment in the virtual currency. [vnL1N2KF0L8]
U.S. crude fell early Thursday by 0.36% to $ 58.47 a barrel and Brent was at $ 61.10, up 0.02%.
On Wednesday, oil rose for the ninth day, the longest winning climb in two years, backed by producer supply cuts and hopes that vaccine distribution will boost demand.
Some were still wary of raw rally. “Current price levels are healthier than the market itself and are entirely dependent on supply cuts, as demand still needs to recover,” said Bjornar Tonhaugen of Rystad Energy.
Commodity traders are also looking at platinum, which jumped over 5% on Wednesday and raced to a six-year high on the horizon for demand from the automotive sector.
Platinum went down 0.3% in early trading on Thursday and was last at $ 1,239.8.
Spot gold eventually went up 0.1% to $ 1,843.23. U.S. gold futures set 0.3% on Wednesday.
“Gold is at war,” said Edward Meir, ED&F analyst at Man Capital Markets. While the weakest dollar is bullish, expectations for a major U.S. stimulus package indicate higher interest rates that could hold gold less attractive, he said.
Reporting by David Henry in New York; Edited by David Gregorio