The Asian markets concluded Monday’s trade mostly in green their first gain in five days. China’s stocks rose the most in a month as automakers got a boost from the government’s pledge to buy more alternative-energy cars, while utilities and consumer-staples shares gained on speculation profit will beat estimates. Hong Kong stocks rose, with the benchmark index climbing after capping its biggest weekly drop since May. The Bank of Japan started a two-day policy meeting today with all 34 economists surveyed expecting the monetary authority will maintain the pace of its monthly bond-buying. Thirty-two percent of economists in a separate survey forecast the BOJ will expand stimulus on October 31. Japan’s industrial production rose to a seasonally adjusted 0.7%, from 0.5% in the preceding month.
Singapore’s economy unexpectedly contracted in the second quarter as higher labor costs and company moves to shift production overseas hurt manufacturing. Gross domestic product fell an annualized 0.8% in the three months through June from the previous quarter, when it expanded a revised 1.6%. Singaporean GDP fell to a seasonally adjusted 2.1%, from 4.7% in the preceding quarter whose figure was revised down from 4.9%.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 2066.95 | 19.69 | 0.96 |
Hang Seng | 23346.67 | 113.22 | 0.49 |
Jakarta Composite | 5021.06 | -11.54 | -0.23 |
KLSE Composite | 1884.87 | 1.72 | 0.09 |
Nikkei 225 | 15296.82 | 132.78 | 0.88 |
Straits Times | 3290.98 | -2.75 | -0.08 |
KOSPI Composite | 1993.88 | 5.14 | 0.26 |
Taiwan Weighted | 9520.30 | 24.46 | 0.26 |