Asian equities slowed their advance as a selloff in Chinese stocks continued, eroding earlier optimism about Federal Reserve policy easing after weak US job openings data.
MSCI’s regional stock gauge rose 0.2%, after climbing as much as 0.7%. Index futures for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 both edged higher.
Treasuries and the dollar were steady. Japanese bond futures extended gains after a closely watched auction of 30-year government notes met demand that was broadly in line with its 12-month average.
Meanwhile, selling in Chinese shares extended, with the CSI 300 Index down 2% after the midday break.
It came after the nation’s financial regulators are said to be considering a number of cooling measures for the stock market due to concerns about the speed of a $1.2 trillion rally since the start of August.
“China A shares are always policy-driven and today’s decline is mainly affected by the potential measures,” said Steven Leung, executive director at UOB Kay Hian Hong Kong Ltd. “I think it is good to cool market down a bit, especially margin financing has climbed up.”
