The Asian markets concluded Friday’s trade mostly in red with investors treading cautiously ahead of the US jobs report scheduled to be released later in the day. Taiwan markets remained shut for the trade today on account of Children’s Day holiday. Indonesia’s central bank is expected to leave the benchmark policy rate unchanged when its board of Governors will meet on Tuesday, as pressure has eased on both the current-account deficit and the rupiah. The street is projecting that Bank Indonesia (BI) would keep the policy rate unchanged at 7.50% for a fifth consecutive month.
Chinese commercial banks saw their non-performing loans jump by more than 20% to 592 billion yuan (almost $95 billion) in 2013. Likewise, the ratio of non-performing loans to total lending has also edged up to 1% of banks’ total portfolio in 2013, up from 0.95% in 2012. Malaysia’s trade balance rose more-than-expected last month. Malaysian Trade Balance rose to 10.40B, from 6.40B in the preceding month. Philippines CPI fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of -0.1%, from 0.1% in the preceding quarter.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 2058.83 | 15.13 | 0.74 |
Hang Seng | 22510.08 | -55.00 | -0.24 |
Jakarta Composite | 4857.95 | -33.38 | -0.68 |
KLSE Composite | 1856.61 | 0.98 | 0.05 |
Nikkei 225 | 15063.77 | -8.11 | -0.05 |
Straits Times | 3212.72 | -7.34 | -0.23 |
KOSPI Composite | 1988.09 | -5.61 | -0.28 |
Taiwan Weighted | - | - | - |