Written by Lei Wee
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Investors on Wednesday braced for a competitive U.S. election that could have huge implications for the world's second-largest economy, as the Chinese government steps up efforts to boost growth. Asian stocks were weak due to the weakness of the Chinese economy. .
Gold rose to an all-time high of $2,784.82 an ounce as fears over the close US presidential election supported the yellow metal. Bitcoin also hit a record high as markets weighed the possibility of Republican candidate Donald Trump winning.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan fell to its lowest point in a month as Chinese assets fell, most recently trading 1% lower.
The CSI300 blue chip index fell 1.3%, and the Shanghai Composite Index fell 1%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.82%.
The move comes as China is considering approving next week to issue more than 10 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion) in additional government bonds over the next few years to shore up its fragile economy, Reuters reported on Tuesday. This overlapped with what was reported.
“China's latest stimulus package does not appear to be overwhelming, with 60% earmarked for local government debt relief,” said Charles Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo.
“While there is a focus on supporting the real estate sector, there remains limited urgency on broader structural issues such as debt, deflation and demographic trends.
“Foreign investors remain very concerned about the threat of potential tariffs if the Republican Party wins a landslide victory in next week's US elections.”
China's new energy vehicle index fell 1.9%, weighed down by news that the European Union decided to raise tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles to up to 45.3%.
Elsewhere, Eurostoxx 50 futures fell 0.42% and FTSE futures fell 0.45% ahead of the UK Budget, where Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves is expected to announce the biggest tax rise in 30 years. did.
U.S. stock futures rose on strong earnings from Google's parent company Alphabet, which reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue.
Nasdaq futures rose 0.06%, while S&P 500 futures rose 0.07%.
Metaplatform and Microsoft announced earnings later in the day, followed by Apple and Amazon.com on Thursday. [.N]
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.9% on the strength of the weaker yen. [.T]
us focus
Bitcoin is just shy of its all-time high of $73,803.25 and was last purchased at $72,479.00, putting it on track for a 13% monthly gain.
The world's largest cryptocurrency is being propped up by trades betting on Trump's chances of becoming president again, although some polls show him still neck-and-neck with Vice President Kamala Harris.
