Asian stocks rise from three-month low as investors weigh Greece
By Bloomberg View
Asian stocks rose, with the regional benchmark index climbing from a three-month low, as investors watched developments in Greece’s debt crisis.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.1 percent to 145.16 as of 9:01 a.m. in Tokyo after closing Monday at the lowest since March 17. The gauge is on course to fall 4.1 percent this month and 0.8 percent for the quarter. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index sank 2.1 percent on Monday, while the Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped 2.7 percent.
“All eyes this week will be on the ECB, which has the potential to announce a front-loading of its QE program,” said Matthew Sherwood, Sydney-based head of investment strategy at Perpetual Ltd. “That should help stabilize things.”
Greece plunged into financial turmoil as Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras decided to put creditors’ demands to a referendum. After the nation imposed capital controls and shut its banks, the focus Tuesday shifts to whether it will default, with $1.7 billion due to the International Monetary Fund. As 12,000 people gathered in Athens’ Syntagma Square with banners that read “our lives do not belong to the creditors,” Tsipras struck a defiant tone, saying European leaders don’t have the nerve to kick Greece out of the euro.
Markets will be looking to the European Central Bank for measures to contain the crisis, Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz SE and a Bloomberg View columnist, said in an interview from New York.
Regional Gauges
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index retreated 0.2 percent on the final day of the financial year. Japan’s Topix index advanced 0.1 percent, extending its gain for the second quarter to 5.3 percent. South Korea’s Kospi index added 0.1 percent, as did New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index.
Futures on Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 0.1 percent and contracts on the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index declined 0.4 percent in most recent trading.
The Shanghai Composite Index sank 3.3 percent on Monday as signs of an exodus by leveraged investors overshadowed the central bank’s effort to revive confidence with an interest-rate cut. The measure has fallen 22 percent from a June 12 peak.
E-mini futures on the S&P 500 climbed 0.2 percent today.
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