The Bank of Japan is pushing on a string and the fast money has headed for the exits in Asia. The Wall Street Journal has the quarterly numbers here.
Asian stocks suffered heavy losses in the last weeks of the second quarter as doubts about central bank action from the U.S. to China unnerved emerging-market investors and led them to yank money out of the region.
With one trading day left in the quarter, the benchmark Shanghai index has been the worst performer, slumping 12.8% as a cash crunch in China’s banking system sparked worries over the country’s financial health. While the People’s Bank of China broke its silence this week and sought to sooth market jitters by injecting funds into cash-starved banks, investors remain wary just as the economy is slowing more quickly than expected.
The most dramatic turnaround in the quarter came in Japan, where a six-month stock rally peaked in May before shares quickly fell more than 20% into a bear market on worries the Bank of Japan may not live up to expectations that it can pull the economy out of two decades of deflation.