Asian shares fall as rising energy costs fan inflation fears

Shares have fallen in Asia as surging prices of oil, coal and other energy fan fears over inflation

Hong Kong Financial Markets
Hong Kong Financial Markets

Shares retreated in Asia on Tuesday as surging prices of oil, coal and other energy added to concerns over inflation.

Benchmarks declined in Tokyo Hong Kong and Shanghai. Oil prices edged lower after U.S. benchmark crude oil closed above $80 per barrel on Monday. It traded briefly above $81 per barrel on Monday for the first time in seven years.

Costs of oil, coal and natural gas have been climbing, adding to price pressures that might lead the Federal Reserve and other central banks to pull back more quickly on their support for markets.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index lost 1% to 28,216.15 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong also fell 1%, to 25,066.05. The Shanghai Composite index shed 1% to 3,554.38 and the S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.4% to 7,272.90.

Shares also fell in India and Taiwan, but rose in Jakarta and Bangkok.

Energy demand has bounced back faster than output as economies recover from the pandemic, driving prices higher. Other factors, including a shortage of truck drivers, shipping disruptions, flooding of coal mines in China and drought that has dented hydropower generation are also pushing prices higher.

“Energy crisis uncertainty will likely keep crude prices heading higher until the oil market seems likely it is heading towards balance. The natural gas shortage is not going away anytime soon and that will keep providing additional demand for crude," Edward Moya of Oanda said in a commentary.

U.S. benchmark crude oil slipped 13 cents to $80.39 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It gained 1.5% to $80.52 per barrel on Monday.

Brent crude, the international pricing standard, shed 6 cents to $83.59 per barrel.

On Wall Street, stocks closed broadly lower Monday, with the S&P 500 down 0.7% at 4,361.19. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also fell 0.7%, to 34,496.06, and the Nasdaq fell 0.6% to 14,486.20. Most sectors finished in the red.

Technology and communications stocks had some of the biggest losses. Facebook fell 1.4% and Intuit fell 1.1%.

Bond trading was closed for the Columbus Day holiday.

Investors are looking ahead to the beginning of company earnings this week.

Companies in a wide range of industries are warning that supply chain problems and higher raw materials costs could crimp their financial results for the rest of the year. Wall Street is closely monitoring whether those higher costs and resulting higher prices for goods will hurt consumer spending, which is a key driver of economic growth.

Stocks have been swaying between between gains and losses as investors try to better gauge the direction of the economic recovery through the rest of the year.

Banks will be among the first big companies to report their latest financial results and give investors more insight into how companies are faring amid concerns over the lingering virus pandemic and rising inflation.

JPMorgan Chase delivers its results on Wednesday. Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup will report results on Thursday.

Delta Air Lines will report its latest results on Wednesday. The airline industry is still struggling to recover from the pandemic shutdowns that began 18 months ago. Investors will be closely monitoring the industry's results to see how much of an impact the summer surge of COVID-19 cases had on the industry.

Investors are also looking ahead to economic data this week that could shed more light on what's going on with inflation. The Labor Department will release its Consumer Price Index on Wednesday and its Producer Price Index on Thursday. The reports detail pressure from inflation on consumers and businesses.

The U.S. dollar edged up to 113.33 Japanese yen from 113.32 yen late Monday. The euro climbed to $1.1557 from $1.1553.

___

AP Business Writer Damian J. Troise contributed.

Register for free to continue reading

Registration is a free and easy way to support our truly independent journalism

By registering, you will also enjoy limited access to Premium articles, exclusive newsletters, commenting, and virtual events with our leading journalists

Please enter a valid email
Please enter a valid email
Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number
Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number
Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number
Please enter your first name
Special characters aren’t allowed
Please enter a name between 1 and 40 characters
Please enter your last name
Special characters aren’t allowed
Please enter a name between 1 and 40 characters
You must be over 18 years old to register
You must be over 18 years old to register
Opt-out-policy
You can opt-out at any time by signing in to your account to manage your preferences. Each email has a link to unsubscribe.

By clicking ‘Create my account’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy policy and Terms of service apply.

Already have an account? sign in

By clicking ‘Register’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy policy and Terms of service apply.

Register for free to continue reading

Registration is a free and easy way to support our truly independent journalism

By registering, you will also enjoy limited access to Premium articles, exclusive newsletters, commenting, and virtual events with our leading journalists

Already have an account? sign in

By clicking ‘Register’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy policy and Terms of service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in