The Asian markets closed mostly in red on Thursday, while Japan’s Nikkei rose to a fresh 15-year high, after US shares had modest gains and hopes rose that foreigners will continue to buying Japanese stocks. China’s Ministry of Finance stated that it would reopen a March 25 issue of three-year bonds, auctioning an additional 30 billion yuan ($4.8 billion) on April 17. The bonds will be issued until April 22 and begin secondary market trading on April 24. Singapore’s central bank could loosen monetary policy for a second time this year, but analysts are divided over the magnitude of any easing as authorities contend with slowing growth, a pickup in core inflation and risks of fund outflows. Indonesian car sales in the first quarter fell 14 percent last year as slowing economic growth took its toll on consumers’ purchasing power. Car manufacturers shipped 282,569 units to dealers in the January-March period, down from 338,500 units in the same period last year. Taiwan’s trade balance fell unexpectedly last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.07B from 4.56B in the preceding month.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 3,957.53 | -37.28 | -0.93 |
Hang Seng | 26,944.39 | 707.53 | 2.70 |
Jakarta Composite | 5,500.90 | 14.31 | 0.26 |
KLSE Composite | 1,849.39 | -0.92 | -0.05 |
Nikkei 225 | 19,937.52 | 147.91 | 0.75 |
Straits Times | 3,460.30 | -0.38 | -0.01 |
KOSPI Composite | 2,058.87 | -0.39 | -0.02 |
Taiwan Weighted | 9,568.04 | -3.93 | -0.04 |