TEMPO.CO, Sydney - Asian share markets got off to a lackluster start on Monday, December 21, following a dive on Wall Street, though losses were limited by a general lack of investor interest in a holiday-heavy week.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat, while Australia's main index eased 0.2 percent.
Japan's Nikkei slipped 0.9 percent.
The market took a hit late Friday after the Bank of Japan announced some changes to its massive stimulus programme but stopped short of expanding the net amount of assets it buys, disappointing some who had hoped for a more aggressive move.
That in turn sent the yen broadly higher and caused some wild swings against the dollar. Early Monday, the dollar was down at 121.30 yen having briefly been as high as 123.58 on Friday.
The euro was little changed at $1.0863, while the dollar was a whisker firmer against a basket of currencies amid very light trade.
Wall Street also had a volatile end to the week with the expiration of stock and index options contracts generating heavy trading volume.
The Dow ended Friday down 2.1 percent, while the S&P 500 lost 1.78 percent and the Nasdaq 1.59 percent. For the week, the Dow fell 0.8 percent, the S&P 500 0.3 percent and the Nasdaq 0.2 percent.
The flight from stocks was a boon for safe-haven bonds. Longer-dated Treasuries have been particularly popular as investors wager the Federal Reserve is well ahead of the curve on inflation after last week's rate hike.
The global background is also one of disinflation given the weakness in oil and other commodity prices and the mounting spare capacity in major exporters such as China.
Inflation expectations for five years ahead have taken a marked turn lower this month, dropping to 2.11 percent from a high of 2.24 percent.
The resulting rally in longer-dated Treasuries has flattened the yield curve with the gap between two-year and 10-year paper shrinking to 123 basis points, the smallest since early February.
A flatter curve is bad news for bank profits since they essentially make money from borrowing short and lending long, and could be one reason U.S. bank stocks fell hard late last week. Financial stocks were the worst-performing S&P sector on Friday.
There was no respite for oil prices as a glut of supply left both Brent and U.S. crude down around 35 percent for the year so far.
Brent was quoted off 35 cents at $36.53 a barrel and touched a new seven-year low at $36.32. A break of $36.20 would take it to ground last trod in 2004. U.S. crude lost 25 cents to $34.48 a barrel.
REUTERS
