Asian stocks dive on oil-led risk-aversion

By FXStreet FXStreet (Mumbai) – A renewed bout of risk-aversion hit the Asian markets at the start of a new trading week, after the Iranian news worsened the ongoing rout in oil prices. While PBOC’s latest efforts to stabilize the offshore yuan markets failed to bring relief to the markets.

Over the weekend, Western sanctions on Iran were lifted, which heightened concerns over the Iranian oil flooding the already oversupplied markets and weighed heavily on oil prices. While China announced introduction of reserve ratio on offshore yuan accounts in a bid to stabilize the CNH.

Asia cautious ahead of China-data deluge

The Japanese stocks are heavily sold-off, leading the decline in the Asian indices. The sharp losses in the indices can be attributed to the persisting risk-off sentiment after oil prices extend the rout. Meanwhile, USD/JPY trades 0.12% higher at 117.20 and the Nikkei drops nearly 2% to 16,814.

The Australian stocks also all follow suit, with the S&P/ASX 200 index declining 1% to 4,843. The resource and energy stocks were the major losers amid oil price falls. The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was down 0.44% at $30.23 a barrel, after declining 6.33% last week. Globally traded Brent futures shed 1.88% at $28.67 a barrel; …read more

Source:: FX Street