Forexpros – Asian stocks traded mixed to lower on Thursday in cautious trading, as investors sold to await results of an upcoming Spanish government bond auction, seen by the markets as a proxy on the severity of the European debt crisis.
Reports that Japan posted a JPY82.5 billion trade deficit in March sent shares falling in Tokyo.
During Asian trading on Wednesday, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was up 0.45%, Australia’s S&P/ASX200 was up 0.43%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index was down 0.61%.
Spain served as the top weather vane in global stock markets, as investors remained worried that despite success in recent bond auctions, repeat performances may be a hard act to follow.
Earlier in the week, the Spanish government sold at auction 12-month and 18-month bills with no major difficulties, and while yields were high at 2.623%, the country did raise over EUR3 billion, above target although the high borrowing costs frayed nerves.
However, the closely-watched 2-year and 10-year auction on Thursday will shed light on market confidence in Spain’s ability to narrow deficits amid a harsh economic downturn and steer its economy to better days.
Meanwhile, Spain reported that the level of bad loans held by domestic banks rose to an 18-year high in February.
Still, Asian markets were more cautious than nervous over Spain and bought and sold on news other than European debt woes.
Japan, however, reported a JPY82.5 billion trade deficit in March, reversing a February surplus.
In Hong Kong, the top gainers included Ping An, up 1.81%, China Life, up 1.62%, and China Unicom, up 1.36%.
Top Australian gainers included Challenger Financial Services, up 5.56%, Cudeco Limited, up 5.46%, and Kagara Zinc, up 3.89%.
European stock futures indicated a higher opening.
France’s CAC 40 futures pointed to a gain of 0.21%, while Germany’s DAX 30 futures signaled a gain of 0.15%. Meanwhile, in the U.K., the FTSE 100 futures indicated a gain of 0.21%.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 0.19% while the S&P 500 futures were up 0.17% as well.
Later Thursday, Japan’s Tertiary Industry Index will reveal insight on the change in the total value of services purchased by businesses.
Also Thursday, global markets will pay attention to Spain’s bond auction.
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