Asia shares, S&P futures fall as Trump travel ban, weak GDP adds to U.S. worries

By Nichola Saminather

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Asian stock markets and U.S. stock futures retreated on Monday after President Donald Trump introduced immigration curbs that sparked criticism at home and abroad and added to global fears of increasingly unpredictable U.S. policies.

Trump on Friday put a 120-day hold on allowing refugees into the country, an indefinite ban on refugees from Syria and a 90-day bar on citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

The executive order led to the detention and deportation of hundreds of people arriving at U.S. airports, huge protests in many U.S. cities and a raft of legal challenges amid confusion over its implementation.

Trump defended the move as vital for U.S. security, but his critics have said his action violated U.S. law and the Constitution.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan and Japan's Nikkei both slid 0.5 percent early on Monday.

S&P e-mini and Dow futures opened down 0.3 percent, while Nasdaq futures started trading about 0.2 percent lower.

"First the market has gone up strongly since the (presidential) election. So it is ripe for a correction and is extended in valuation metrics," said David Kotok, chairman and chief investment officer of Cumberland Advisors.

"For these current market prices to be justified, the Trump agenda must unfold perfectly," Kotok added. "But the reverse is under way and fragmented policy combined with obfuscation is now a growing detriment to growth acceleration."

Several countries including long-standing American allies criticized Trump's directive as discriminatory and divisive, and tens of thousands of people rallied in U.S. cities and at airports on Sundays to express their outrage.

U.S. judges in at least five states blocked federal authorities from enforcing Trump's executive order, but lawyers representing people affected said some authorities were unwilling on Sunday to follow the judges' rulings.

U.S. 10-year Treasury yields opened fractionally higher, and remained close to that level.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of trade-weighted peers, dipped about 0.2 percent to 100.30 in early Asian trade.

The dollar also weakened almost 0.4 percent to 114.63 yen on Monday, pulling further away from a one-week high hit Friday.

Adding to pressure on stock markets, data on Friday showed U.S. economic growth slowed more than expected in the fourth quarter, with GDP rising at a 1.9 percent annual rate, below the 2.2 percent rise expected by economists and the 3.5 percent growth pace logged in the third quarter.

Earnings disappointments also weighed, led by Chevron, whose quarterly profit missed expectations, and Starbucks, which trimmed its full-year revenue forecast.

But the impact across Asia may be delayed, with China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia shut on Monday for the long Lunar New Year holidays.

While U.S. policies are causing some nervousness, investors in Asia will also focus on the Bank of Japan's policy meeting on Tuesday as well as manufacturing and services activity surveys out of China on Wednesday.

Markets will also be watching U.S. manufacturing data and the Federal Reserve meeting's outcome on Thursday, and Friday's non-farm payrolls figure.

In commodities, oil started the week on a negative note, extending declines on signs on growing output in the U.S. that looks set to offset supply cuts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers.

U.S. crude retreated 0.3 percent to $53.02 a barrel, adding to Friday's 1.1 percent slide.

Gold shone amid the pullback in risk markets. Spot gold added almost 0.3 percent to $1,193.10 an ounce.

(Reporting by Nichola Saminather; Additional reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar and Megan Davies; Editing by Kim Coghill)