Asian Stocks Mixed; Signals a Rocky Start for the Week

SYDNEY, Australia – Shares in the Asian stock market were mixed on Monday, signaling a rocky start for this week.

The biggest gain for the market on Monday is the Australian stock market, with the benchmark All Ords index tracking a 1.57% gains for the day, going up by around 107.70 points to reach 6,952.30.

The Shanghai Composite of China also outperformed for the day, with the benchmark recording an advance for the day of around 0.56%, gaining 16.72 points towards 2,984.39. The day’s gains for the day for the index marks its highest close for a day since November 8. The blue-chip CSI300 index in China also recorded a 0.5% advance to reach 3,987.55.

Most of the stock gains in China came after market players cheered on the recent developments on trade as well as the more optimistic numbers that suggest the resilience in the economy of the country.

Elsewhere in Asia, stock dived for the day. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index in Japan fell by around 0.29%, going down by 70.75 points to settle at 23,952.35 for the day.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index also tracked declines of about 0.46%. it shed around 127.61 points towards its current 27,560.15 valuations.

Following the positive developments of the trade agreement between the US and China last week, when both parties have announced that the two largest economies in the world have agreed on a partial agreement, stocks recorded gains at the end of the trading week. Along with the limited agreement is the US cutting existing tariffs on Chinese goods and the new tariff, which was supposedly scheduled to take effect yesterday. As a part of the deal, the Chinese government has also agreed to up their imports of American products such as agriculture.

However, on Monday, most major indexes in Asia were looking at declines for the rest of week.

On the foreign exchange front, most currencies are tracking gains, however.

The euro has stayed well traded at its current 1.1138 valuations. The British pound has also recorded gains, which helped its value to rise towards 1.3371 points during the trading close at Sydney’s stock market.

On Monday, the Japanese yen was also recorded with slightly stronger sentiment at its current 109.44 points, with the Swiss franc strengthening its value at 0.9835 as well.

The Canadian dollar also traded positively on Monday, strengthening its valuation at 1.3141, while the New Zealand dollar tracked gains to settle at 0.6597.

The Australian dollar has also eased for the day, settling at 0.6875.