China’s Economic Conference Disappoints – Asia Market Wrap

Asian markets dipped on Friday as some traders were frustrated by the paucity of data from a Chinese economic conference, and risk appetite decreased ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve meeting.

A barometer of Asian equities is on track for its worst week in nearly a month, with Japanese and Australian shares dropping after Wall Street sold down Thursday. The S&P 500 fell 0.5% as traders evaluated higher-than-expected unemployment claims versus hotter PPI data.

Shares in China and Hong Kong fell after a readout from China’s Central Economic Work Conference that lacked policy details for a fiscal stimulus, despite authorities promising to promote consumption. However, their promise to lower policy rates as well as bank reserve ratios caused the Chinese 10-year government bonds to fall below 1.8% for the first time in history. Investors must now wait until March for further clarification.