Most Asian stocks fell on Tuesday, while the U.S. dollar and oil steadied, as investors held safe ranges awaiting more clues on whether central banks will continue their aggressive interest rate hikes. Market conditions were also subdued heading into the U.S. Independence Day public holiday on Tuesday, with most of Wall Street closed.
According to a recent investigation by Nikkei Asia, China deliberately delays clearances, which prevents corporations like Japan's Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, Singapore Telecommunications, and the US internet titans Meta and Google from implementing their undersea cable projects, according to European Times.
Asian stocks on Wednesday extended a global sell-off as U.S. debt ceiling negotiations dragged on without resolution, while the New Zealand dollar tumbled after the central bank caught markets off-guard by flagging that its tightening cycle is over. The U.S. dollar - paradoxically - remained elevated amid safe-haven demand, which was also a driver of Treasuries and pushed yields lower.
Mainland Chinese blue chips turned lower after early gains, with the benchmark CSI 300 dropping 0.8%. Trade data released on the day showed an unexpected decline in imports and slower exports growth, underlining the struggles facing the world's second-biggest economy despite the lifting of COVID curbs in December "When it comes to the Chinese market, you have the question coming from investors now about the strength of the recovery," said Frank Benzimra, Societe Generale's Hong Kong-based head of Asian equity strategy. "So when you have some trend data which is not as good as people expect, it raises doubts," he said.
Hong Kong police seized an exhibit on Friday in connection with what they said was an attempt to incite subversion, with media reporting it was a statue commemorating Beijing's Tiananmen Square crackdown on democracy protesters in 1989.