* Asian stock markets : https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
* Asia markets down broadly, but S&P futures pare losses
* Apple, Facebook slip despite upbeat results
* Talk of distressed selling by hedge funds as shorts
squeezed
* Dollar gets safe-haven bid as euro backtracks
By Wayne Cole
SYDNEY/NEW YORK , Jan 28 (Reuters) - Asian shares slid on
Thursday while the safe-haven dollar rallied as a sudden
sell-off on Wall Street and delays with coronavirus vaccines
shook investor optimism about an early recovery for the global
economy.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS fell 1.2%, with valuations looking stretched
given the index had risen more than 6% just this month.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 fell 1.3%, its sharpest drop since
October, and Chinese blue chips .CSI300 1.5%. South Korea
.KS11 eased 0.9% led by losses in Samsung 005930.KS after it
reported earnings. Even the tech darlings were not immune with Facebook FB.O
down despite reporting earnings well above expectations. Apple
Inc AAPL.O also handily beat forecasts, yet its shares lost 3%
after the bell. There was a hint of resilience in Asia as U.S. stock futures
pared steep early losses, leaving Eminis for the S&P 500 ESc1
off 0.1% and NASDAQ futures NQc1 down 0.2%.
There was no obvious trigger for the rout, rather many
seemed to have rushed for the exits at the same moment in a
market that had been priced for perfection.
Dealers said highly leveraged investors were taking profits
where they could to cover losses elsewhere, leading to sharp
falls in a lot of overcrowded trades.
Some pointed a finger at retail investors who had forced a
massive squeeze on hedge funds with short positions in stocks
such as GameStop GME.N . GameStop and several other highly-bid stocks later retreated
in extended trade after Reddit briefly restricted access to its
popular WallStreetBets site. "The Reddit army should prepare for stricter rules and
regulation shortly, which should kill the idea that what
happened with GameStop will happen with others," said Edward
Moya, a senior market analyst at OANDA.
MOOD SWINGS
The dogged optimism that vaccines would heal the global
economy in just a few months has been strained by the outbreak
of new variants and problems with the distribution of shots in
the United states and Europe. Dealers noted the market had also chosen to focus more on a
downbeat economic outlook from the Federal Reserve overnight
than on its pledge of continued policy support. "The Fed's acknowledgment of a slowdown in the pace of the
recovery and dependency on vaccine roll out are not new news,
but it does provide equity investors a bit of a reality check,
pushing out the timing for recovery," said Rodrigo Catril, a
senior FX strategist at NAB.
The sudden mood change saw Treasury 10-year yields
US10YT=RR drop 3 basis points overnight to 1.01%, well off the
recent peak at 1.187%. US/
The safe-haven U.S. dollar gained broadly, with its index up
at 90.727 =USD from a January low of 89.206. The dollar firmed
to 104.28 yen JPY= and away from the week's trough of 103.54.
The euro fell back to $1.2093 EUR= amid reports the
European Central Bank felt markets were under pricing the risk
of more rate cuts.
Commodity linked currencies were hit by all the economic
angst, with the Australian AUD=D3 and New Zealand NZD=D3
dollars both shedding more than 1% overnight.
The bounce in the dollar kept gold prices soft around $1,836
an ounce XAU= . GOL/
Global demand concerns restrained oil prices despite a huge
drop in U.S. crude stocks. U.S. crude CLc1 fell 24 cents to
$52.61 a barrel, while Brent crude LCOc1 futures dropped 26
cents to $55.55. O/R
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Asia-Pacific valuations https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dr2BQA
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