Reuters :
Asian shares made a guarded start on Monday to a week packed with the important US and Chinese economic data and the launch of Apple’s latest iPhones, while the Nikkei was tantalisingly near heights last visited in 1990.
Japanese shares have been on a tear as hopes for fresh stimulus from a new Prime Minister saw the Nikkei surge 4.3 per cent last week. The Topix has already scaled that peak, while the Nikkei turned hesitant early on Monday. Reports US Democrats were considering proposals to raise taxes on corporations and the wealthy, while not exactly new, could make for a cautious mood.
Adding to concerns about Beijing’s regulatory crackdown was an FT report is aimed to break up Alipay, the hugely popular payments app owned by Jack Ma’s Ant Group. China releases a swath of data on retail sales, industrial output and urban investment on Wednesday that analysts fear will show a further slowdown in the world’s second-biggest economy.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.1 per cent, after bouncing on Friday.
Both Nasdaq futures and S&P 500 futures were up 0.3 per cent, after running into profit-taking last week.
Wall Street suffered its worst run since February as doubts about the resilience of the global economic recovery hurt former reopening darlings in energy, hotels and travel.
