The Asian markets concluded Monday’s trade mostly in red tracking cues from Wall Street where stocks ended notably lower on Friday. Chinese markets remained shut for the trade today for Ching Ming Festival holiday. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will review economic conditions in a more detailed fashion than he did last year before giving the green light for another consumption-tax increase. Japan raised its sales tax to 8% from 5% on April 1 after the PM made a final decision to do so last fall. The government plans to raise the tax further to 10% in October 2015. Indonesia’s consumer confidence index rose to its highest level since November 2012 amid expectations of an improving economy. Bank Indonesia’s consumer confidence index rose to 118.2 in March a 2-point increase from a month earlier and a 1.4-point increase from the same month last year. Taiwanese Trade Balance rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.95B, from 1.57B in the preceding month.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | - | - | - |
Hang Seng | 22377.15 | -132.93 | -0.59 |
Jakarta Composite | 4921.04 | 63.10 | 1.30 |
KLSE Composite | 1862.90 | 6.29 | 0.34 |
Nikkei 225 | 14808.95 | -254.92 | -1.69 |
Straits Times | 3193.59 | -19.13 | -0.60 |
KOSPI Composite | 1989.70 | 1.61 | 0.08 |
Taiwan Weighted | 8876.44 | -12.10 | -0.14 |