SYDNEY, April 12 — Asian shares faltered today as investors wait to see if US earnings can justify sky-high valuations, while bond markets could be tested by what should be very strong readings for US inflation and retail sales this week.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was off 0.6 per cent in slow trade. Tokyo’s Nikkei edged down 0.5 per cent, while South Korean stocks were near flat.

Chinese blue chips eased 0.9 per cent ahead of a rush of economic figures from the country.

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Investors were anxious to see how shares in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd fared after China slapped a record 18 billion yuan (RM11.3 billion) fine on the e-commerce giant.

Reverberations could be felt beyond China as over a third of the stock is held by US investors, and given the stock makes up more than 8 per cent of the MSCI EM index.

Some felt the decision was already in the share price.

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“Ever since the Ant IPO was cancelled and with the antitrust laws in the pipeline, the market has expected that Alibaba would pay a price,” said Louis Tse, managing director at Wealthy Securities in Hong Kong.

“I think it’s good for the share price now that the news has been delivered and it is cleared up at last.”

Nasdaq futures slipped 0. per cent today, as did S&P 500 futures. EUROSTOXX 50 futures dithered either side of flat, while FTSE futures were down 0.2 per cent.

Growth and tech stocks had seen something of a revival last week as US 10-year Treasury yields retreated to 1.66 per cent , from a 14-month top of 1.776 per cent.

Thomas Mathews, a markets economist at Capital Economics, doubted the rally in bonds would last, however.

“Given the pace of the economic recovery and the Fed’s apparent unwillingness to stand in the way of higher yields, we think long-term yields will rise again before long,” he said. Over the weekend, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the economy was about to start growing much more quickly, though the coronavirus remained a threat.

Data out this week are expected to show US inflation jumped in March, while retail sales is seen surging perhaps even with a double-digit gain. Treasury is also set to test demand with offers of US$100 billion (RM413.8 billion) in debt this week.

“Rapid economic growth, supported by reopening and accommodative fiscal policy, may disproportionately benefit the sectors of the stock market that are more sensitive to the health of the economy,” said Mathews at Capital.

“And the composition of that growth is likely to be more skewed towards those sectors than it might have been during a typical economic expansion.”

It is also likely to show in profits. The banks kick off first-quarter earnings season this week with Goldman Sachs , JPMorgan and Wells Fargo scheduled to report on Wednesday.

Analysts expect profits for S&P 500 firms to show a 25 per cent jump from a year earlier, according to Refinitiv IBES data. That would be the strongest performance for the quarter since 2018.

The pullback in yields was enough to see the dollar come off the boil last week. It was last trading at 92.265 against a basket of currencies, down from a peak of 93.439.

It was flat on the yen at 109.60, and short of its March peak of 110.96. The euro was holding at US$1.1892 and above its recent trough of US$1.1702.

Gold prices were idling at US$1,739 an ounce, having failed to sustain a top of US$1,758 last week.

Oil prices fell around 2 per cent last week as production increases and renewed Covid-19 lockdowns in some countries offset optimism about a recovery in fuel demand.

Brent was quoted up 28 cents today at US$63.24 a barrel, while US crude added 22 cents to US$59.54. — Reuters