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Equities Pressured

EQUITIES

A mixed picture for stocks in the Asia-Pac time zone to end the week. Bourses in Japan, South Korea and Australia are all down between 1%-2%, but indices in Hong Kong and China are managing to squeeze out some gains.

  • US futures are lower, breaching new session lows as we head into the European session after recovering from heavy selling yesterday. While markets initially rebounded after measures were imposed to limit retail traders speculation in meme stocks, the move gave back as some of the stocks in question saw sizeable after hours moves. RobinHood, one of the online brokers, has said it will ease some restrictions on the stocks in question.
  • The phenomenon seems to be contagious. The market drama surrounding GameStop is spreading beyond the US as traders look to squeeze heavily shorted stocks. Rakuten and Pigeon Corp. both saw outsized moves in Japan.
  • Risk off sentiment is exacerbated by some COVID-19 concerns, the South African strain of coronavirus has now been found in the US, while Germany recommended the AstraZeneca jab not be given to over 65's, and there were reports that the Novavax vaccine is less effective against the new variants.

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