By Chao Deng
Stocks in Japan and Australia slipped Tuesday, with investors
worrying about a standoff between Greece and its creditors, but
China shares gained after inflation there slipped to a five-year
low.
The Nikkei Stock Average was down 0.7% and Australia's
S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.5%, tracking losses in the U.S. and Europe
overnight.
Greece's government said Monday that it plans to cancel some of
its debt-reduction and economic-reform measures that are key
conditions for international aid, putting the country at greater
risk of default and reviving fears of it will exit the
eurozone.
"[Japan] stocks are due for a pullback, but the dollar's selloff
was not too steep and U.S. long bond rates continue to edge
higher," which provides support for the dollar, said Daiwa
Securities senior strategist Tsuyoshi Nomaguchi. The U.S. dollar
was down 0.1% at Yen118.43 against the yen early Tuesday.
"More volatility may be ahead due to philosophical differences
over how to service Greek debt, but thus far, stock buying by the
Bank of Japan as well as pension and other funds is stabilizing the
market, and holding steep selloffs to a minimum. That is not likely
to end any time soon," said Mr. Nomaguchi. He added that volume may
be thin ahead of Wednesday's holiday in Japan.
In Shanghai, however, stocks were up 0.9%, after Chinese data
showed consumer inflation in January rose 0.8% from a year earlier,
below expectations, and slowing from a 1.5% year over year rise in
December. Low inflation is expected to give the central bank more
leeway for policy easing, often a boon for stocks.
The Hang Seng Index was roughly flat.
Japan's second-largest auto maker, Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., was up
3.0% after it raised its full year profit forecast Monday, helped
by a weak yen and strong U.S. sales. Nissan's sales in the U.S.
pulled within 154,000 vehicles of Honda's in 2014, narrowing the
gap to nearly half of what it was a year ago.
Yoko
Kubota
and Bradford Frischkorn contributed to this article.
Write to Chao Deng at Chao.Deng@wsj.com
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