Asian markets are exhibiting mixed trend in the early deals on Monday, tracking the mixed cues from Wall Street as better-than-expected US jobs raised expectations of an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve in December. Weak trade data released by China on Sunday and lower commodity prices also dampened investor’s sentiment. Meanwhile, Japanese stocks rose as the yen weakened considerably against the dollar after Friday's strong US jobs report solidified expectations that the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in December. Among the other Asian markets, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore are up with modest gains. Bucking the trend, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan are lower.
Nikkei 225 jumped 356.91 points or 1.85% to 19,622.51, Hang Seng increased 27.58 points or 0.12% to 22,894.91, Straits Times surged 2.71 points or 0.09% to 3,013.18, and Shanghai Composite was up by 58.39 points or 1.63% to 3,648.42.
On the flip side, Jakarta Composite dropped 73.77 points or 1.62% to 4,492.78, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI dipped 4.07 points or 0.24% to 1,681.63, KOSPI Index slipped 8.16 points or 0.40% to 2,032.91, and Taiwan Weighted was down by 44.70 points or 0.51% to 8,648.87.