The Asian markets closed mostly in green on Monday, tracking the gains in US shares as weaker-than-expected economic data spurred bets the Federal Reserve won’t rush to raise interest rates. Bank of Japan’s chief economist stated that the country’s economy is likely to shift to an expansionary phase this fiscal year due to improvements in domestic demand, exports and a windfall from last year’s decline in oil prices. Japan’s industrial production fell to a seasonally adjusted -0.8%, from -0.3% in the preceding month. Japan’s core machinery orders increased 2.9 percent in March from the previous month, rising for the first time in two months, in a sign of a pick-up in business investment. The rise in core orders, a highly volatile data series regarded as an indicator of capital spending in the coming six to nine months, compared with the median estimate of a 1.8 percent increase. In January-March, core orders rose 6.3 percent from the prior three months. Compared with a year earlier, core orders in March rose 2.6 percent.
As China’s economy slows and Beijing becomes more relaxed about letting its companies fail, a rising number of foreign bondholders risk being caught up in the country’s unpredictable court system. As China’s slowdown continues, lawyers expect to see an uptick in bankruptcy filings, but warned that the outcome of these proceedings would continue to be distorted by political factors. China’s new home prices fell for the eighth consecutive month in April from a year earlier but were flat from March, adding to hopes that a property downturn which is weighing heavily on the economy is beginning to bottom out. Average new home prices in China’s 70 major cities dropped 6.1 percent last month from a year ago, the same rate of decline as in March. But nationwide prices steadied from March, further narrowing from a 0.1 percent fall in the previous month.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 4,283.49 | -25.20 | -0.58 |
Hang Seng | 27,591.25 | -231.03 | -0.83 |
Jakarta Composite | 5,237.81 | 10.72 | 0.21 |
KLSE Composite | 1,823.50 | 11.58 | 0.64 |
Nikkei 225 | 19,890.27 | 157.35 | 0.80 |
Straits Times | 3,459.57 | -3.53 | -0.10 |
KOSPI Composite | 2,113.72 | 7.22 | 0.34 |
Taiwan Weighted | 9,606.10 | 26.62 | 0.28 |