ASIAN STOCK MARKET: KOSPI BUCKS THE TREND WITH BIGGEST DAILY JUMP IN A YEAR

• Asia-Pacific markets remain mostly downbeat but South Korea offers positive surprise.
• Market’s anxiety ahead of the key central bank meetings joins inflation fears from the US to weigh on sentiment.
• Commodities fade previous upside momentum, DXY licks wounds amid sluggish yields.

Global markets turn cautious as traders brace for the ECB and the BOE monetary policy announcements during early Thursday. Adding to the risk-off mood are the concerns over inflation raised by US President Joe Biden’s picks for Fed Board and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. It’s worth noting, however, that South Korea’s KOSPI prints the biggest daily gains in a year as bourses in Seoul reopen after three-day off.

Amid these plays, MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rise 0.20% intraday whereas Japan’s Nikkei 225 drops around 1.0%.

Japan’s Nikkei bears the burden of covid woes, in addition to the broad risk-negative catalysts, while declining the most among the key Asian indices.

Stocks in Australia print mild losses after witnessing mixed trade and sentiment data earlier in the day whereas New Zealand’s NZX 50 dropped 0.80% intraday while portraying the disappointment from NZ PM Ardern’s five-step plan to reopen borders.

Moving on, South Korea’s Nikkei Manufacturing PMI jumped the most since July, to 52.1 versus 50.1 forecast and 51.9 prior, during January. In addition to the upbeat data, the strong performance of tech stocks on Wall Street also underpins the KOSPI’s run-up.

It’s worth noting that markets in China, Hong Kong and Indonesia remain closed while Indian share prices begin the day on a negative side while tracking global indices.

Looking forward, markets are likely to remain sidelined, mostly risk-off, ahead of the aforementioned monetary policy decisions. Following that, US ISM Services PMI for January, expected 59.5 versus 62.0 prior, will also be important to watch further direction.

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