Asian Stock Market: US debt filibuster, RBNZ rate-hike and China chatters weigh on sentiment

• Asia-Pacific markets remain grim as anxiety over US debt ceiling extension, stimulus hinges.
• US-China ready to abide by the Taiwan agreement, Taipei marks worst military tension with Beijing in four decades.
• RBNZ announced rate hike, USTR eyes taking public polls on China import exclusion.

Shares in the Asia-Pacific region hold lower grounds, extending the previous bearish bias, even as China cheers week-long holidays. The reason could be linked to the indecision over the US stimulus and the debt limit extension, not to forget the Sino-American tension.

US President Biden stays determine the tackle the key budget and relief package issues before the October 18 deadline despite the GOP rejection. However, Republicans are up for rejecting the motion during the Senate voting on Wednesday.

President Biden’s phone call with his Chinese counterpart and readiness to respect the Taiwan agreement can’t soother pains of Taipei as their Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said, “Military tensions with China are at their worst in more than 40 years,” per Reuters

Amid these plays, MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan drops 0.30% while Japan’s Nikkei 225 marks around 1.5% intraday loss heading into Wednesday’s European session.

That said, the news of the US Trade Representative’s (USTR) investigation over the exclusion of China imports joins the absence of risk-negative headlines from the Chinese reality sector to battle the bears.

It’s worth noting that shares in Australia bears the burden of the risk-off mood with a 0.60% daily loss but New Zealand’s NZX 50 can’t justify the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) rate hike as it drops a meager 0.40% on a day at the latest.

Further, Hong Kong Leader Carrie Liam’s push for solving the housing crisis at home weigh Hang Seng, down 1.0% by the press time whereas South Korea’s KOSPI joins the flow with mild losses.

On the contrary, Indonesia’s IDX Composite bucks the downtrend with a whopping 2.0% upside while India’s BSE Sensex also prints mild gains amid domestic positives.

Looking forward, investors will pay close attention to the risk catalysts and the US ADP Employment Change for September for fresh impulse ahead of Friday’s US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP), not to forget China’s return after a long break.

Read: US ADP Employment Change September Preview: Yes, its all about the Fed