Asian markets are largely rising when traders are cautiously waiting for trade developments
Asian stocks were mixed on Monday in a cautious fashion after Wall Street closed the week with milestones as the Dow Jones Industrial Average crossed 28,000 for the first time and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit record highs.
Japan's reference index Nikkei 225
NIK, + 0.49%
gave almost 0.4% in morning trading. Australia's S & P / ASX 200
XJO, -0.40%
fell 0.6% while South Korea's Kospi
180721, -0.07%
lost 0.3%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng
HSI, + 1.35%
added to 1.1% while Shanghai Composite
SHCOMP, + 0.62%
was up nearly 0.6%.
Among individual shares, shares of Yahoo Japan parent Z Holdings
4689, + 1.20%
majority stakeholder SoftBank
9984, + 1.64%
and Line
3938, + 2.18%
rose in trade with Tokyo after announcing a merger agreement between the internet portal and the country's leading chat app. In Hong Kong, Geely Automobile
175, + 4.47%
Wharf Real Estate
1997, + 2.74%
and AIA Group
1299, + 1.95%
increased. LG Electronics
066570, + 1.42%
achieved in South Korea, while Westpac
WBC, -0.68%
slipped in Australia.
“This week's market focus will still be on US and China trade talks and updates in Hong Kong. Hong Kong's domestic economy is on the cusp of a recession, as recent riots have damaged the retail, service, tourism, aviation, education sectors and have caused serious reputational damage to the city as one of Asia's most important economic hub, "said Margaret Yang Yan, an analyst at CMC Markets in Singapore.
On Wall Street, health care and technology stocks drove most of the broad rally, helping drive the S&P 500 to its sixth straight weekly gain. Dow extended the stretch of weekly winnings to four.
Investors have been encouraged by surprisingly good corporate earnings, three Federal Reserve interest rate cuts and data showing that the economy is still growing solidly.
Hope the United States and China can make progress in their latest trade press, and have also helped keep investors in the buying mood.
SPX, + 0.77%
rose 23.83 points, or 0.8%, to 3,120.46. Dow Jones industrial average
DJIA, + 0.80%
gained 222.93 points, or 0.8%, to 28,004.89. Nasdaq composite
COMP, + 0.73%
climbed 61.81, or 0.7%, to 8,540.83.
S&P, Dow and Nasdaq are now up more than 20% for the year.
Businessmen hope the world's two largest economies can make a deal before new and more damaging tariffs come into force next month. Beijing is pushing Washington to roll back tariffs as part of a potential agreement that nations are trying to hammer out.
Benchmark Crude Oil
CLZ19, + 0.23%
added 8 cents to $ 57.80 per barrel. It rose 95 cents to $ 57.72 a barrel on Friday. Burnt crude oil
BRNF20, + 0.09%
the international standard, two centimeters up to $ 63.32 per barrel.
dollar
USDJPY, + 0.22%
rose to 108.84 Japanese yen from 108.70 yen on Friday.