published Apr 9, 2018 7:27:06 PM, by Adam Haigh
(Bloomberg) —

Asian stocks edged lower as traders look for any response to the barrage of tariff threats from the Trump administration in a speech from China President Xi Jinping, and U.S. political risks reemerge. The dollar held losses.

Indexes fell in Japan, Australia and South Korea in a muted start to Tuesday trading. Despite gains in technology stocks driving U.S. equities higher on Monday, the S&P 500 Index erased about two-thirds of its advance amid news the FBI conducted a raid at the office of President Donald Trump’s longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen. Treasuries pared losses and oil rebounded from the declines on Friday.

Trade relations remain front and center of investors’ minds. China was said to be reviewing ways to use its currency as a weapon with President Xi set to deliver his keynote speech to the Boao Forum for Asia Tuesday that may include a strong warning about the consequences of a prolonged dispute. Political risk also took another turn in the White House, as Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian meddling in the U.S. election resurfaced.

“At the moment, everyone’s in a wait and see on a lot of things,” Nick Twidale, chief operating officer at Rakuten Securities’ Australian unit said.

Meanwhile, in Russia the ruble plunged and the Moex Russia Index of stocks tumbled the most in four years after the U.S. sanctioned some prominent Kremlin-connected billionaires and their companies. Aluminum posted the biggest gain in more than six years and palladium jumped amid concerns that supply may be disrupted after the U.S. imposed restrictions.
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Here’s what is coming up this week:

China’s Xi gives a keynote address at Boao Forum Tuesday. Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg testifies at two Congressional hearings Tuesday and Wednesday. U.S. CPI data and FOMC minutes due Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. report first-quarter earnings Friday.

These are the main moves in markets:

Stocks
Japan’s Topix index fell 0.4 percent as of 9:14 a.m. in Tokyo. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 0.2 percent. The Kospi index lost 0.8 percent. Futures on Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.3 percent. Futures on the S&P 500 fell 0.1 percent. The S&P 500 rose 0.3 percent.

Currencies

The Bloomberg dollar spot index was little changed. The yen rose 0.1 percent to 106.67 per dollar. The euro traded at $1.2325. The Russian ruble declined 4.3 percent to 60.66 per dollar on Monday, the biggest decrease since June 2015.

Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries was steady at 2.78 percent. Australia’s 10-year bond yield fell two basis points to 2.65 percent.

Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.3 percent to $63.25 a barrel after climbing 2.1 percent Monday. Gold was little changed at $1,337.44 an ounce. LME aluminum fell 0.6 percent after soaring 6.6 percent, its biggest bounce since January 1992. The Bloomberg Commodity Index gained 1.2 percent.

–With assistance from Matthew Burgess.To contact the reporter on this story: Adam Haigh in Sydney at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Christopher Anstey at canstey@bloomberg.net Cormac Mullen

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