Asian stocks lower; focus on the data front

Markets in Asia traded mostly in red territory on Monday, as market participants eyed increasing US Treasury yields while continuing to digest heavy losses in the technology sector.

The Nikkei 225 was down 0.27 percent while the Topix ended 0.03 percent lower. Insurance companies and financials pushed benchmarks higher, while the rest dragged it to the downside.

In South Korea, the Kospi index established 0.21 percent lower for the day, with automakers and retailers leading losers. Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.21 percent as gold producers and financial names were able to support the benchmark.

In mainland China, the Shanghai comp eased 0.69 percent and the Shenzhen was 1.42 percent lower by the time of this writing. The Hang Seng was down 0.47 percent.

Investors continued to digest a note issued by Morgan Stanley saying iPhone sales in the second quarter are expected to miss expectations. The investment bank lowered its forecasted sales figures from 40.5 million to 34 million units.

"We expect Apple to report an in-line March quarter, but are cautious into earnings on May 1 due to our belief that June quarter consensus estimates need to be revised lower," Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty wrote in a note to clients on Friday.

Meanwhile, traders continued to operate with focus on the dollar. Expectations of further monetary policy adjustments in the US boosted risk assets demand last week.

Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said Thursday that “if the economy evolves as I anticipate, further gradual increases in interest rates will be appropriate this year and next year”.

Also, market participants counted on remarks by International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde: "I think truth and transparency for me are the two key pillars of where we need to go and how we need to help because we are here to serve the countries that have started this institution"

Economic calendar:

Germany’s manufacturing and services PMI indexes for April are due for release as of 07:30 GMT. The Eurozone will present its own measures at 09:00 GMT.

In America, Markit’s manufacturing and services activity data will be out at 13:45 GMT, while existing home sales for March will be available by 14:00 GMT.

FortFS