singapore july 21 reuters  asian stocks inched lower and the dollar was firm on thursday as looming central bank meetings in europe and japan and uncertainty over the supply of russian gas kept traders on edge wall street indexes rallied overnight but even betterthanexpected results from tesla tslao after hours couldnt carry the positive mood into the asia session read more nasdaq 100 futures fell 03 and sp 500 futures fell 02 mscis broadest index of asiapacific shares outside japan miapj0000pus fell 02 and japans nikkei n225 fell 01 market focus is on the resumption of gas flow along the biggest pipeline from russia to germany a planned 10day outage is set to end at 0400 gmt if flow isnt resumed or is lacklustre it will stoke worries about winter supplies read more two sources familiar with the plans of russias monopoly gas exporter gazprom told reuters on tuesday that flows were likely to restart at premaintenance levels of 40 of capacity which would probably be enough to calm markets for now the european central bank also meets on thursday to begin europes ratehike cycle markets are hedging bets on a hike of either 25 basis points or 50 bps with the latter perhaps able to support a euro that has slipped below 1 this month they need to be raising rates to deal with the way inflation is embedded said george boubouras head of research at k2 asset management in melbourne but the dilemma theyve got is that the lack of energy security planning has regions of the european union in a very difficult positionone can only assume that youve got minimal upside and large downside risks to the european economy the euro wavered overnight and bought 10191 early in the asia session traders also await details of an ecb plan to steady bond spreads in europe by buying extra debt from periphery countries to keep a lid on yields the bank of japan ends a twoday meeting later on thursday and although no policy change is expected the outlook will be closely watched as will the reaction in currency and bond markets where some funds have bet on a shift read more a cloud over chinese growth due to its strict covid19 controls and fresh concern over stability in the property market is also casting gloom over the prospects for global demand us president joe biden expects to speak to his chinese counterpart by the end of the month but markets are sanguine as to whether much of a thaw in sinous ties is possible or whether it can arrest economic problems read more growthsensitive commodities such as copper and iron ore have been sliding and this week chinese banks and property stocks have been hurt by borrowers boycotting repayments on unfinished real estate read more past due mortgages doubled over the week and  potential home buyers are waiting for a general drop in home prices for the housing market including completed projects ing analysts said in a note to clients on thursday this is negative even for cashrich developers chinas yuan was under pressure in morning trade at 67700 to the dollar against other currencies the greenback steadied after dipping earlier in the week the australian dollar bought 06890 sterling  at 11983 didnt get much of a bounce from british inflation zooming to a 40year high even though it stoked bets on rate rises traders have a wary eye on the race to replace boris johnson as prime minister read more beyond the ecb investors have scaled back bets on a 100 bp rate hike from the federal reserve next week with a 75 bp hike seen most likely but the retreat has come in concert with a deepening of economic growth worries the benchmark 10year treasury yield held at 30172 in asia below the 2year yield of 32293 a market signal that often presages a recession