Asian Equities Slide on Weak U.S. Earnings

Asian shares dipped on Friday after weak corporate earnings dented Wall Street, while the dollar nursed its losses after marking its worst monthly performance in four years against a basket of six major currencies.  The dollar index .DXY stood at 94.824 in early trade, after skidding roughly 3.7 percent in April and touching a more than two-month low of 94.399 on the final day of the month.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was down 0.4.  Friday’s activity is likely to be subdued, with some of Asia and much of Europe closed for Labour Day and May Day holidays.

Investors will be focused on China’s official Purchasing Managers’ Index report due at 9 p.m. EDT, to gauge the strength of manufacturing activity in the Asian economic powerhouse and the likelihood that the government will take additional stimulus measures.  On Wall Street on Thursday, the three major stock indexes posted modest gains for the month of April, but ended the session with losses over 1 percent after weak earnings reports.

Reuters