SYDNEY, Aug 28 : Shares in Asia turned cautious on Friday after a Nvidia-fuelled technology rally, while currency and bond markets held their breath for the world's most powerful central banker to speak on U.S. interest rates. Oil prices were headed for weekly losses as Iran and Oman had agreed on administering traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and sharing revenues, though Washington has shown little interest in reviving direct talks with Tehran. Brent eased 0.4 per cent to $89.33 a barrel but was set for a weekly drop of over 5 per cent. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.2 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei rose 0.5 per cent. Taiwanese shares gained 0.8 per cent after Nvidia jumped nearly 9 per cent overnight after the chipmaker reported robust results and signalled the AI spending boom has years left to run. South Korea's KOSPI, however, fell 1.5 per cent, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.4 per cent.
S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures were off 0.2 per cent, while EURO STOXX 50 futures edged up 0.3 per cent. All eyes are on the Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole Symposium where Chair Kevin Warsh is slated to speak later in the day. Three Fed officials have already sounded the alarm about sticky inflation but the new central bank chief has resisted providing forward guidance about where interest rates are going. Futures imply around a 35 per cent chance that the Fed will raise interest rates when it meets on September 16 and are fully priced for a move by December."While we do not expect him to offer forward guidance, markets are hoping he will reduce some of the uncertainty surrounding the Fed's reaction function," said analysts at ANZ in a note to clients. "We do not expect that will be forthcoming but, given recent volatility in rates markets, if Warsh offers too little, that could lead to an adverse market reaction."Longer-dated yields have jumped after the Fed's July meeting as Warsh was seen as not offering enough concrete steps for addressing persistently high inflation. He is also presiding over a divided Fed, with several policymakers calling for interest rate increases to stem price pressures.On Friday, 30-year Treasury yields edged up 1 basis point to 5.2045 per cent but were down 7 basis points this week, after briefly topping 5.3 per cent last week for the first time since 2007 and prompting a surprise intervention from U.S. Treasury to step up its buyback programme. Ten-year yields also rose 1 bps to 4.6842 per cent and were down 5 bps this week, while two-year yields held at 4.2340 per cent and were steady for the week. The dollar was little changed against its major peers at 99.20 on Friday but is up 0.4 per cent for the week. The Australian dollar was among the best-performing G10 currencies after a hot inflation report this week triggered a sharp repricing of the Reserve Bank of Australia's interest-rate outlook. The Aussie hit a three-month top of $0.72 and was set for a weekly rise of 0.4 per cent, the ninth straight week of gains. In commodity markets, gold slipped 0.5 per cent to $4,579 an ounce and was set for a small drop of 0.5 per cent this week.
