SYDNEY – Asian shares got off to a cautious start on Tuesday lacking any lead from Wall Street and after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) shaved its outlook for world growth this year, though it did offer a good view on China.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was fractionally down 0.04 percent.
Moves elsewhere were likewise modest, with Japan’s Nikkei down 0.1 percent and South Korea 0.04 percent. E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 eased 0.05 percent.
Overnight, the IMF trimmed its global growth forecasts even as it said that a United States-China trade deal could see activity bottom out.
The IMF now sees growth at 3.3 percent this year, down from 3.4 percent and also cut the 2021 forecast to 3.4 percent from 3.6 percent. Yet it still lifted the outlook for China to six percent.
United States (US) president Donald Trump and French president Emmanuel Macron agreed to hold off on a potential tariffs war until the end of the year, a French diplomatic source said.
Trump is due to deliver a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos later on Tuesday, and trade and tariffs could be on the agenda.
Also due later is the outcome of the Bank of Japan’s latest policy meeting. (Reuters)
