Asian stocks slipped on Wednesday, following a mixed Wall Street session as the region's investors positioned their portfolios for the new year and continued to grapple with increasing global numbers of Omicron coronavirus cases.
Volatile markets are common in late December as fund managers prepare to rule off their books for the year and holidays thin trading volumes in some major markets like Australia.
"Typically, at this time of year global investors are starting to rethink their portfolio positions and they are looking at the risks going into 2022," said Jim McCafferty, Nomura's joint head of APAC equity research. "Inflation is rearing its head in Europe and the U.S., it's more contained in Asia, so people are looking to have their portfolios positioned to mitigate inflation. In equities, people are looking at companies that can pass on any future price rises and firms with dividend growth as one way investors can generate income."
The rising Omicron case numbers are not spooking investors as much as first feared given fatality rates have not soared and the prospects of global lockdowns remains slim. "Investors are moving ahead and looking at what the impact will be of going back to normal," said McCafferty.
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