Asia-Pacific stocks were mixed Monday as markets kickstarted what ING calls a “quiet” week for economic data from the region.
Key data this week from Asia will include China’s loan prime rate, set to be released Wednesday. ING said no change is expected in China’s LPR, with the one-year rate currently at 3.1% and the five-year LPR at 3.6%.
Japan will release trade data on Wednesday and October headline inflation numbers on Friday, while Australia’s central bank on Tuesday will release minutes of its meeting earlier this month.
Japan’s markets were the outlier in the region, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 down 1.09% and closing at 38,220.85, while the broad-based Topix was 0.73% lower at 2,691.76.
South Korea’s Kospi rose 2.16% and ended at 2,469.07, leading gains in Asia, and powered by a 5.98% rise in heavyweight Samsung Electronics, while the small-cap Kosdaq reversed losses to climb 0.6% and finish at 689.55.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.18% to 8,300.2, marking a third straight session of gains and hitting its highest closing level in about a month.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was 0.82% higher in the final hour of trading, while mainland China’s CSI 300 fell 0.46% to close at 3,950.38.
On Friday in the U.S., all three major indexes on Wall Street declined as investors worried about the path of interest rates and sold off pharmaceutical stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.70%, while the S&P 500 slipped 1.32% and the tech heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 2.24%.
Losses in pharmaceuticals weighed on the blue-chip Dow and the S&P 500, with Amgen falling about 4.2% and Moderna sliding 7.3%.
This comes after President-elect Donald Trump said on Thursday that he planned to nominate vaccine-skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
— CNBC’s Brian Evans and Alex Harring contributed to this report.
source: cnbc.com
