Asian Stock Market News - Stocks Broke Rising Streak

Asian stocks falter as Fed makes case for possible December rate rise

Asian stocks broke a two-day rising streak on Thursday after top U.S. Federal Reserve officials kept the door open to a December interest rate hike, sending short-term U.S. bond yields to 4-1/2-year highs and giving a boost to a resurgent dollar.

European stocks are set to start cautiously with spreadbetters expecting Britain's FTSE 100 to open flat, Germany's DAX to rise 0.13 percent, and France's CAC 40 to open flat.
  
A U.S. interest rate hike, ordinarily a sign of a healthy global economy, would now come at the worst possible time for export-oriented Asian countries which are grappling with the twin effects of a slowing China and shrinking global trade.
  
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.4 percent, led by a 1 percent fall in Australian shares. While it has risen 12 percent since end-September, it is still down 10 percent so far this year.

In fresh signs that Asian countries were feeling the heat, central banks from Australia to Thailand voiced caution at their scheduled policy meetings this week while retail sales in Hong Kong fell for a seventh consecutive month.
  
In her first public comments since the Fed's meeting last week, Federal Reserve Chair Yellen said the U.S. was ready for higher interest rates if upcoming economic data justified them.

"If the incoming information supports that expectation then our statement indicates that December would be a live possibility," she said. In later comments, New York Fed President William Dudley agreed with Yellen.

The Fed chief's measured optimism was in direct contrast with disappointing earnings for struggling businesses in Asia.