The Asian markets concluded Thursday’s trade mostly in green with Indonesian stocks dropping the most - sending the main index to its biggest decline in seven months - after early legislative results showed that presidential candidate Joko Widodo’s party may not have enough seats to secure its own pick and would have to form a coalition, disappointing investors who hoped for an easy nomination. Both Hong Kong and Shanghai markets were up, after China announced a plan to widen market access for overseas investors and allow direct stock trading between Hong Kong and Shanghai. Malaysian Industrial Production rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.7%, from 3.7% in the preceding month. Japan’s Core Machinery Orders fell and stood at -8.8% from 13.4% in the preceding month.
China’s exports and imports unexpectedly fell in March as Premier Li Keqiang informed that the nation will roll out more policies to support growth while avoiding stronger stimulus. Overseas shipments declined 6.6 percent from a year earlier, attributing the drop partly to distortions from inflated data in early 2013. Imports fell 11.3 percent, in part on falling commodity prices, leaving a trade surplus of $7.71 billion.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 2134.30 | 29.06 | 1.38 |
Hang Seng | 23186.96 | 343.79 | 1.51 |
Jakarta Composite | 4765.73 | -155.68 | -3.16 |
KLSE Composite | 1869.52 | 3.77 | 0.20 |
Nikkei 225 | 14300.12 | 0.43 | - |
Straits Times | 3203.58 | -6.34 | -0.20 |
KOSPI Composite | 2008.61 | 9.66 | 0.48 |
Taiwan Weighted | 8948.10 | 17.53 | 0.20 |