Asian stocks closed in green on Monday following last week's gains on Wall Street. Meanwhile, trading volumes remained thin across the region as markets in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan remained shut due to the Lunar New Year holiday. Japanese shares rallied, with a weaker yen, firmer lead from Wall Street and encouraging trade data helping support underlying sentiments. Japan posted a merchandise trade deficit of 943.417 billion yen in January, the Ministry of Finance said - an improvement of 13.6 percent from a year earlier. That exceeded forecasts for a shortfall of 1,003.6 billion yen following the 358.7 billion yen deficit in December.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | - | - | - |
Hang Seng | - | - | - |
Jakarta Composite | 6,689.29 | 97.71 | 1.48 |
KLSE Composite | 1,857.32 | 19.04 | 1.04 |
Nikkei 225 | 22,149.21 | 428.96 | 1.97 |
Straits Times | 3,487.88 | 44.37 | 1.29 |
KOSPI Composite | 2,442.82 | 20.99 | 0.87 |
Taiwan Weighted | - | - | - |