TOKYO: Asian stocks fell on Wednesday as oil prices continued to fall. Investors began to pull back as concerns about global growth and political uncertainty in Greece caused investors to turn to safer assets.

Data showed that 11 China’s annual consumer inflation fell to 1.4% this year, the lowest level in the past five years. Investors did not take much comfort in this. It shows that the world’s second largest economy continues to weaken.

MSCI’s Asia-Pacific index, the biggest outside Japan, fell 0.5 percent, with the Nikkei down 1.6 percent. Hiroyuki Hiroyuki, chief strategist at Tokai Tokyo Research Center “Market optimism over recent good news is fading as investors shift from risk appetite to risk aversion.”

Japan’s large manufacturers are not optimistic about growth from October to December and expect the situation to deteriorate further in the next quarter. A government survey released before the market opened showed that the economy has been slow to recover from the recession.

At 65.98 percent a barrel, Brent crude fell 1.3 percent dollars, but remained above Tuesday’s 5-year low of $65.29. U.S. crude futures fell 1.4% to $62.96%. Oil prices have been under pressure from severe oversupply since OPEC decided not to cut production.

The industry group, the American Petroleum Institute, reported a 4.4 million barrel increase in production for 2019, putting additional pressure on crude prices. Last week, analysts predicted a drop in crude inventories.

The political recession in Europe added to market pessimism. The Greek stock and government bond markets fell after the Athens government proposed a presidential vote, adding to the uncertainty of Greece’s exit from the International Monetary Fund (IMF)/European Union (EU) bailout.

These signs have shocked global markets in recent months. The slowdown in global economic growth and, in particular, the plunge in oil prices have triggered a range of volatility.

Sean Callow, currency strategist at Westpac “Volatility spiked as most equities tumbled and some consensus trading in London/New York faltered.” “Risk aversion in demand for Treasuries led to a drop in U.S. interest rates and a corresponding drop in the U.S. dollar.” . ‘

In Asian trading, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was at 2.220 percent, unchanged from Tuesday’s U.S. close.

The dollar fell about 0.2% to 119.51 yen against the yen today, after dropping to 117.90 yen on Tuesday. Dollar/yen touched a 7-year high of 121.86 on Monday.

On the day, the euro was steady against the dollar at $1.2374, and the dollar index, which tracks the value of the greenback against six currencies, closed flat at 88.702.

Chinese stocks stabilized after a sharp sell-off on Tuesday, dampening global sentiment. On Tuesday, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.4% after hitting a three-and-a-half year high in roller-coaster trading before plunging to more than 5%.

Official bond trading in China has also been volatile. The market passed stricter collateral regulations. About 500 billion yuan ($81 billion) worth of corporate bonds were excluded from bond repurchase agreements.

Wall Street’s main stock indexes closed lower overnight, but the S&P 500 was essentially flat.

Wall Street’s major stock indexes closed lower overnight.