Asian Stocks Even After Global Selloff

The unexpected 130 billion yuan injection by the People’s Bank of China into money markets – the largest such injection since September – appeared timed to reassure Chinese retail investors, who are always sensitive to liquidity signals, that the bank would support the market with cash. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 1.7 points, about 0.1 percent, to 2,011.

“Any expectations for global markets to enter the new trading year calmly were completely ruined following further weak China data resulting in anxiety among investors and triggering an aggressive sell – off across global equities”, said analyst Lukman Otunuga at trading firm FXTM.

While Chinese stocks showed signs of volatility, the selling pressure was muted compared with the sell-off on Monday, which sent the country’s stocks plummeting almost 7 percent and set off a global rout. This triggered the “circuit breaker” mechanism newly effective from 2016, which halted trade for the remainder of Monday.

Japan’s Nikkei.N225 slipped another 0.5 percent, adding to Monday’s 3.1 percent dive.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.2 percent to 128.65 as of 9:04 a.m.in Tokyo.

China’s Shanghai Composite, which plunged 6.86 per cent on Monday on worse than expected manufacturing data, fell by as much as 3 per cent on Tuesday, in spite of a spate of share purchases by Chinese government funds meant to shore up prices.

Among stocks moving in premarket trading, First Solar and SolarEdge Technologies rose at least 1.8% after Goldman Sachs Group recommended buying the shares.

“There are a lot of concerns on China and emerging markets in general”, said Anatoli Annenkov, senior European economist at Socié té Gé né rale. Later, priced declined as investors anxious that slowing economic growth could cut energy demand.

The UK blue-chip index rose 11 points, or 0.2%, to 6,105 in relatively calm trading following yesterday’s slump.

South Korea’s Kospi index finished down 0.3% to 1,925.43, but the index was already lower before the news of the bomb.

London and Paris also tumbled and later in the day all three main indexes on Wall Street were hammered.

Benchmark U.S. crude was up 4 cents to $36.80 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.