Alibaba's record $31-billion Singles' Day sales fail to cheer investors

Monday’s meagre volume across Asian stock markets means one thing: everyone’s waiting for solid news to trade on before getting overly excited one way or another.

Most benchmarks in the region posted moves between 0.1 per cent and 0.8 per cent in either direction. A gauge tracking volatility in Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average dropped for a fifth straight session.

Even a $31-billion record sales figure from Alibaba Group’s Singles’ Day didn’t give stocks a big lift (consumer shares in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell). 

Bloomberg Opinion columnist Tim Culpan said savvy investors would do well not to get caught up in