Asian stocks were seen climbing on Monday, boosted by the weaker yen, while the Chinese markets closed for public holiday.
Japan
The Japanese benchmark Nikkei 225 index added 0.17% to 15,695.41 points on Monday, while Tokyo’s Topix index gained 0.26% to 1,296.62 points.
A report from the Cabinet Office showed that Japan’s gross domestic product (GDP) contracted an annualized 7.1% in the June quarter, more than the preliminary reading of a 6.8% decline. The nation’s domestic demand came in lower than expected, falling 2.9%, compared to the initial reading of 2.8%, while the gross fixed capital investment slumped 1.1% instead of 0.7% in the three months through June.
The unexpected decline in the nation’s economy growth was an impact of the government’s sales tax increase on April, which held back private consumption.
A separate report released showed that Japan’s current account at a surplus of 416.7 billion yen in July, compared to the 399.1 billion yen deficit seen in the previous month.
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The Japanese yen weakened against the greenback on Monday, trading around 105.13 yen, compared with 105.6 yen during Friday’s trading session.
In Japan, Kobe Steel jumped 3.5% to 177 yen after the steel company’s equity rating was raised to outperform from natural. Toho steel also saw gains, with shares up 1.1%. Financial stocks with gains included Shinsei Bank which rose 2.6%, Aozora Bank up 2% and Sony Financial Holdings gained 1.2%.
Markets in China and South Korea were closed on Monday for public holidays.
However, a government report showed that Chinese exports rose 9.4% in August from the previous year, while imports declined 2.4%, leaving a record trade surplus of $49.8 billion.
Australia
In Sydney, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index edged 0.29% lower to 5,582.20 points at the time of writing.
BC Iron slumped 3.5% after spot iron ore prices fell 0.8% to $83.6 per ton on Friday, while Forterscue Metals lost 0.5% and BHP Billiton declined 0.1%. Meanwhile, in the financial markets, the nations four major banks saw losses, with National Australia Bank dived 0.5% lower, ANZ fell 0.2%, Westpac lost 0.3% and Commonwealth Bank of Australia was flat.
US Jobs Report
The US equity benchmark rose 0.5% on Friday as tensions eased and the US jobs data raised worries that the Federal Reserve won’t increase interest rates anytime soon.
According to reports from the US Labour Department, US employers added 142,000 jobs in August, the lowest this year.
European stocks
Stocks in the European region posted losses as the weekend’s Scottish referendum dragged major indices lower.
The European Euro Stoxx 50 edged 0.21% lower to 3,281.50 at the time of writing, while the German DAX fell 0.13% to trade at 9,770.80 at the time of writing as a report from the Federal Statistical Office showed that Germany’s trade data for July posted a surplus of 23.4 billion euros, compared to analyst forecast of a 15.9 billion euros surplus.
Meanwhile in France, the benchmark CAC 40 declined 0.10% to 4,482.30 and the UK’s FTSE 100 was down 0.32% to 6,833.30.
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