Risk-off grips Asia amid GBP flash crash, NFP ahead

The stocks on the Asian bourses trade in the red zone, mainly driven by a fresh bout of risk-aversion, in wake of the GBP flash crash on Brexit hard-landing fears, which almost killed the demand for risk-assets.

The Japanese benchmark, Nikkei 225 eased-off monthly highs as the Japanese yen regained ground and weighed on the exports-oriented stocks. Meanwhile the USD/JPY pair retreated sharply from 104.16 five-week highs and now trades around 103.60 levels, down -0.32% on the day.

Fresh selling around the Asian indices can be also attributed to increased cautiousness heading into the main market moving event for this week, the US non-farm payrolls, which is expected to throw fresh light on the Fed’s rate hike prospects this year.

Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei 225 now drops -0.22% to 16,860, the Australian S&P/ASX 200 loses -0.26% to 5470. Hong Kong markets trade -0.28% lower, back below 24k mark. The mainland Chinese markets will remain closed for the balance of this week on account of annual National Day Golden Week.