Asian shares set to end strong week on soft note, bonds enjoy relief rally

By Stella Qiu

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian stocks were ending a beardown week connected a softer enactment connected Friday arsenic the euphoria implicit U.S.-China commercialized talks faded, portion revived bets for argumentation easing successful the United States sparked a rally successful beaten-down enslaved markets.

Oil prices steadied aft plunging implicit 2% overnight connected quality of a imaginable U.S.-Iran atomic deal, but they are inactive up 1% for the week arsenic the planetary economical outlook brightened. [O/R]

In Asia, shares of Alibaba slumped 6.8% aft the tech giant's quarterly gross failed to impressment investors. Their U.S.-listed shares slumped 7.6% overnight.

It has been a beardown week for planetary sharemarkets arsenic investors cheered the commercialized warfare truce betwixt the U.S. and China, which has greatly lessened the accidental of a planetary recession. However, determination are signs for caution heading into the weekend.

Investors went backmost to selling the U.S. dollar against the safe-haven currencies connected Friday, with the dollar down 0.4% connected the Japanese yen and slipping 0.3% connected the Swiss franc.

"The markets face a play with little hazard of carrying unfastened positions than last, with nary large commercialized talks oregon important risks connected the calendar," said Kyle Rodda, elder expert astatine Capital.com

"However, determination is ever a flimsy risk-off bias going into the play during a Trump presidency, with a nasty downside astonishment astatine the Monday unfastened lone ever 1 societal media station away."

The MSCI's broadest scale of Asia-Pacific shares extracurricular Japan slipped 0.1% to 613.4 connected Friday but it is inactive acceptable for a play emergence of implicit 3%. Goldman Sachsraised its 12-month people for the Asian scale to 660, from 620 before.

Chinese bluish chips eased 0.2% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.6%.

Japan's Nikkei fell 0.4% aft information showed its system shrank for the archetypal clip successful a twelvemonth successful the March quarter, underscoring the fragile quality of its betterment present nether menace from U.S. commercialized policies.

Nasdaq futures and S&P 500 futures were some down 0.1% aft Wall Street ended the time mixed. U.S. retail income were brushed and the shaper prices fell unexpectedly successful April, arsenic markets added to the bets for a full easing of 56 ground points from the Federal Reserve this year.

That helped Treasuries rally aft a brutal week. The benchmark ten-year yields fell 3 ground points to 4.424% connected Friday, having already dropped 7 bps overnight to determination distant from its one-month top.

For the week, they are inactive up 8 bps.

The two-year yields were besides down 2 bps to 3.947%, having fallen 8 bps overnight.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said connected Thursday that policymakers felt they request to reconsider the cardinal elements astir some jobs and ostentation successful their existent attack to monetary policy.