Asian equity markets ended mostly in green on Monday as oil prices jumped and weak US data raised a question mark over the extent of Fed tightening. Meanwhile, investors took weak Chinese data, geopolitical worries and the WannaCry ransomware cyberattack in their stride. Chinese shares ended higher as concerns over regulatory tightening ebbed and upbeat talk on trade and infrastructure investment at a top-level conference in China helped investors shrug off disappointing macro data. China's industrial production growth eased at a faster-than-expected pace in April, official data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. Output climbed an annual 6.5 percent, slower than the 7.6 percent rise in March, while retail sales surged 10.7 percent in the month, just below the 10.9 percent spike in the prior month. The country's fixed asset investment also grew at a slightly slower pace of 8.9 percent in April, but property investment growth accelerated to 9.3 percent in the first four months of 2017 from 9.1 percent in the first quarter. However, Japanese shares closed marginally lower, pressured by a stronger yen, a widespread cyber attack and North Korea's missile test over the weekend.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 3,090.23 | 6.72 | 0.22 |
Hang Seng | 25,371.59 | 215.25 | 0.86 |
Jakarta Composite | 5,688.87 | 13.66 | 0.24 |
KLSE Composite | 1,778.65 | 2.78 | 0.16 |
Nikkei 225 | 19,869.85 | -14.05 | -0.07 |
Straits Times | 3,264.21 | 8.92 | 0.27 |
KOSPI Composite | 2,290.65 | 4.63 | 0.20 |
Taiwan Weighted | 10,036.82 | 50.00 | 0.50 |