The Asian equity benchmarks ended mostly in red on Monday, with Chinese stocks falling for a third day, the longest losing streak since November, amid concern a rally for the world’s best-performing equities market over the past year has been excessive relative to the outlook for the economy. Japan’s Stock Exchange was closed on account of ‘Coming of Age (Adults) Day’ holiday. Japan’s government will propose a record budget for next fiscal year of more than $800 billion but cut borrowing for a third year as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe seeks to maintain growth while curbing the heaviest debt burden in the industrial world. Shinzo Abe stated that Japan is on course to meet his promise of halving the primary budget deficit - excluding new bond sales and debt servicing - in the next fiscal year. Japanese Economics Minister Akira Amari notified that he expects real wages to turn positive in the fiscal year starting April as the economy recovers from nearly two decades of mild deflation. Japan’s index of leading economic indicators rose to a seasonally adjusted 103.8, from 104.5 in the preceding month whose figure was revised up from 104.0.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 3,229.32 | -56.10 | -1.71 |
Hang Seng | 24,026.46 | 106.51 | 0.45 |
Jakarta Composite | 5,187.93 | -28.73 | -0.55 |
KLSE Composite | 1,735.08 | 2.64 | 0.15 |
Nikkei 225 | - | - | - |
Straits Times | 3,344.89 | 6.45 | 0.19 |
KOSPI Composite | 1,920.95 | -3.75 | -0.19 |
Taiwan Weighted | 9,178.30 | -37.28 | -0.40 |