Asian markets ended mostly in green on Tuesday, following gains on Wall Street despite poor Japanese growth data. Hong Kong market was closed on account of the day following the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival holiday. Bank of Japan board members at the August meeting said the focus for policymakers should be the underlying trend in prices as they assess whether sustained 2% inflation is possible by 2015, the minutes showed. Members expressed the recognition that, even though monthly figures for the CPI tended to draw attention in terms of the BoJ’s conduct of monetary policy, it was important to accurately gauge the underlying trend in prices.
China’s trade surplus surged to a record $49.8 billion in August, as imports surprisingly fell for a second straight month while export growth slowed. Imports fell 2.4% year-on-year to $158.6 billion while exports increased 9.4% to $208.5 billion. Japanese Household Confidence rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 41.2. Taiwanese Trade Balance rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.11B, from 2.61B in the preceding month.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 2326.53 | 0.10 | 0.00 |
Hang Seng | - | - | - |
Jakarta Composite | 5197.12 | -49.36 | -0.94 |
KLSE Composite | 1874.12 | 3.03 | 0.16 |
Nikkei 225 | 15749.15 | 44.04 | 0.28 |
Straits Times | 3342.96 | 7.77 | 0.23 |
KOSPI Composite | 2049.41 | -6.85 | -0.33 |
Taiwan Weighted | 9434.77 | 26.83 | 0.29 |