Asian Markets concluded the trade mostly on negative note, as yesterday’s report of Chinese manufacturing data which weakened in June amid a credit crunch, weighed on the market sentiments. Japan’s Nikkei however touched its highest in nearly five weeks after encouraging manufacturing data in Europe and the United States helped cheer markets fretting about a slowing Chinese economy. The Bank of Japan’s closely watched ‘tankan’ survey, release showed sentiment among large manufacturers turned broadly positive in the April-June quarter for the first time in almost two years. The sentiment reading for large manufacturing enterprises rose to plus 4 from the previous quarters minus 8. A positive number indicates more firms reported favorable conditions than unfavorable conditions. On the economic front, a report from the Bank of Japan showed that the monetary base in Japan spiked 36% year-over-year in June, standing at 163.537 trillion yen. That follows the 31.6% surge in May.
In China, the Shanghai Composite Index gained over half a percent. Korean markets’ ended little changed as investors adopted a cautious approach ahead of second-quarter earnings, while the Hong Kong's market closed in negative terrain after dealers returned from a long weekend to fresh data indicating a slowdown in China’s economy.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 2,006.56 | 11.32 | 0.57 |
Hang Seng | 20,658.65 | -144.64 | -0.70 |
Jakarta Composite | 4,728.70 | -48.75 | -1.02 |
KLSE Composite | 1,771.89 | -3.25 | -0.18 |
Nikkei 225 | 14,098.74 | 246.24 | 1.78 |
Straits Times | 3,173.32 | 32.39 | 1.03 |
KOSPI Composite | 1,855.02 | -0.71 | -0.04 |
Taiwan Weighted | 8,015.86 | -20.14 | -0.25 |
