HONG KONG: Asian shares held recent gains but lost momentum on Tuesday Nov 8 because investors remained cautious ahead of the US inflation data and midterm elections, which will determine control of Congress.
London and New York are set to open lower, with FTSE futures and E-mini futures for the S&P 500 index down 0.55% and 0.18% after Wall Street's buoyant Monday close.
In a note on Tuesday, Redmond Wong, Saxo Markets' market strategist for Greater China, said that MSCI's gauge of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan narrowed to a gain of 0.12% at 0517 GMT 1.17 pm.
Markets are expecting a gridlock in the US CPI due to a divided Congress and moderateration. Both are helping the risk-on sentiments. Investors had placed bets on the possibility that China would change its zero-COVID policy. In the afternoon, both the Hang Seng index and China's benchmark CSI 300 Index dropped 1%, wiping out morning gains.
On Saturday, Chinese health officials reiterated their commitment to the policy at a press conference.
The health officials added that local governments should not double down on the implementation and must ensure people's livelihood and economic activities remain normal, and investors took note of the fact that the health officials added that local governments should not unreasonably double down on the implementation.