Asia report: Markets higher as China takes day off
Markets in Asia finished mostly higher on Monday, as traders looked towards Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the US later in the week, with Chinese markets closed for the day.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was up 0.39% at 18,983.23, with the latest Tankan quarterly survey suggesting a 12-point rise in sentiment among the country’s manufacturers.
That was still off a Reuters-polled estimate for a 14-point improvement, with the services sector seeing its sentiment add 20 points.
Shares in technology company Toshiba were down 5.47% after reports emerged that the firm could miss a third deadline to report its quarterly figures.
The yen retained its relative strength against the dollar, but was last 0.06% weaker at JPY 111.46 per $1.
In South Korea, the Kospi was up 0.34% at 2,167.51, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index improved 0.62% to 24,261.48.
In Seoul, the peninsula’s first digital bank launched on Monday, with K Bank promising customers could open accounts and apply for loans entirely from their smartphones.
Shares in Hong Kong-listed Huishan Dairy were suspended from trading on Monday, after the firm’s chairman and controlling shareholder sold a raft of shares during a serious fall in their value on Friday.
The company’s value was impacted by more than $4bn during the freefall.
Stateside, US President Donald Trump told the Financial Times at the weekend that the US would take action to remove the nuclear threat from North Korea, unless its ally China turned up the pressure on Pyongyang.
Xi was scheduled to visit Trump at the Mar-a-Lago golf club in Florida on Thursday and Friday.
Oil prices were lower during Asian trading, with Brent crude last down 0.13% at $53.46 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate losing 0.02% to $50.59.
Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 settled 0.13% higher at 5,872.68, after data showed a 0.1% month-on-month fall in retail sales for February.
New home consents fared much better in the sunburnt country, leaping 8.3%, against forecasts for a 1% dip.
Coal transport operator Aurizon Holdings was off 1.14%, after the company told the market that damage to Queensland railways from Cyclone Debbie could see the economically vital links close for more than a month.
A number of miners, including heavyweights such as BHP Billiton, rely on the railway lines to haul coal away from their mines and facilities.
Across the Tasman Sea, the S&P/NZX 50 was 0.4% higher at 7,225.02, led higher by broadband lines operator Spark, which was up 3.1%.
Local analysts said the day was marked by yield-hunting, with local Treasury yields coming off and pushing traders towards high-yield stocks.
The down under dollars were both weaker against the greenback, with the Kiwi last retreating 0.13% to NZD 1.4295 and the Aussie pulling back 0.31% to AUD 1.3148 to the $1.