TOKYO (Reuters) – Asian shares hovered below their 10-year peak on Friday while mainland Chinese shares dropped to three-month lows after big falls the previous day on concerns about fresh government steps to curb financial risks and rise in Chinese bond yields.
European stocks are expected to be little changed after the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States on Thursday, with spread-betters looking to a flat opening in major European stock indexes, including Britain’s FTSE .FTSE, France’s CAC .FCHI and Germany’s DAX .GDAXI.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was up 0.2 percent, as Hong Kong shares .HSI bucked the softness in the mainland shares to gain 0.6 percent.
The MSCI index hovered still just 0.3 percent below its 10-year peak hit earlier this week and is on course to post a weekly gain of 1.4 percent.
Japan’s Nikkei .N225 ended up 0.1 percent after a market holiday on Thursday while U.S. stock futures ESc1 were little changed after shortened trading on Thursday.
“Many markets have been hitting new highs so there should be some profit-taking and I wouldn’t worry too much. Still, in the very near term, we could be in a phase where patience is needed,” said Hirokazu Kabeya, chief global strategist at Daiwa Securities.
Although solid global economic growth and strong corporate earnings have underpinned shares in Asia and many other parts of the world, a tumble in mainland Chinese shares caught some investors’ attention.
The CSI300 index .CSI300 fell as much as 0.9 percent to a three-month low in choppy trade after a 3.0 percent fall – its biggest in almost a year-and-a-half – on Thursday, as a sell-off in domestic bonds that has been underway since last month gnawed away at investor sentiment.
The pound last traded at $1.3295 GBP=D4, a tad below Thursday’s six-week high of $1.3337.
U.S. crude futures hit a two-year high on the shutdown of Keystone pipeline, a major crude pipeline from Canada to the United States.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $58.42 a barrel at 0645 GMT, up 35 cents, or 0.6 percent from their last settlement. They reached a high of $58.58 a barrel early on Friday, the highest level since July 1, 2015.
International benchmark Brent futures LCOc1 held firm at $63.41, down 0.2 percent on the day.
In a sign of a tightening market, both crude benchmarks are in backwardation, where spot prices are higher than those for future delivery, which makes it unattractive for traders to store oil for later sale.
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