Asian investors tread carefully ahead of Yellen speech

HONG KONG, March 29: Asian investors moved cautiously Tuesday as they returned to the trading floors after the long Easter break, with attention turning to a speech by Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen later in the day.
After a broadly upbeat month across all asset classes — which saw healthy gains after the sharp sell-offs of January and February — investors also looked to cash in before closing their positions before the end of the week.
A string of easing measures from central banks around the world provided some much-needed support over March and there are hopes Yellen will shed some light on the Fed s thinking on its interest rate policy when she talks in New York Tuesday.
A recent run of strong US data — including Friday s better-than-forecast fourth-quarter growth — have raised the chances of a lift sometime soon, although disappointing inflation and consumer spending figures Monday dampened expectations.
In early trade Tokyo s Nikkei was 0.2 percent down at the break, while Hong Kong gave up 0.1 percent and Shanghai slipped 0.3 percent.
However, Seoul added 0.3 percent and Singapore was marginally higher.
The uneasy start to the week came after a largely positive but soft lead from Wall Street.
“Much of Wall Street s rebound, and indeed that of global markets, over the last five weeks has been driven by expectations for continued policy accommodation from the world s central banks,” Matthew Sherwood, head of investment strategy at Perpetual in Sydney, told Bloomberg News.
“It is no surprise that the market rally is showing signs of fatigue. A weak recovery despite record stimulus remains a tough environment for risk markets.”
Also on the agenda this week is the release Friday of a US jobs report that will give further insight into the state of the world s top economy.
Oil prices, which this month have seen predominantly strong gains — breaking above $40 at one point — on hopes for a deal to freeze output, edged down again.- AFP