Asian markets ended mostly higher on Monday as investors kept a close watch on developments in the Middle East. After exchanging fire near the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, United States and Iran have agreed to suspend further attacks ahead of peace talks scheduled for this week in Doha, Qatar. Chinese and Hong Kong shares surged following fresh liquidity support measures from the People's Bank of China (PBoC). The central bank introduced overnight reverse repo operations, offering 300 billion Chinese Yuan to financial institutions to improve short-term liquidity management and stabilize funding conditions in the interbank market. Separately, the PBoC injected 157.5 billion Chinese Yuan through seven-day reverse repos while keeping the borrowing cost unchanged at a record-low 1.4%. The measures underscored Beijing's commitment to an accommodative monetary stance and reinforced expectations of continued policy support for the economy. Meanwhile, investors remained cautious ahead of the US nonfarm payrolls report and the annual central banker confab in Sintra, Portugal, due this week. Besides, traders took profits on high-flying semiconductor and artificial intelligence-related stocks due to worries about potentially higher interest rates by the end of the year.
| Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
| Shanghai Composite | 4,073.90 | 46.64 | 1.16 |
| Hang Seng | 23,026.68 | 354.82 | 1.57 |
| Jakarta Composite | 5,820.79 | -75.34 | -1.28 |
| KLSE Composite | 1,665.91 | -1.83 | -0.11 |
| Nikkei 225 | 69,468.11 | 107.23 | 0.15 |
| Straits Times | 5,208.75 | 17.02 | 0.33 |
| KOSPI Composite | 8,394.65 | -16.56 | -0.20 |
| Taiwan Weighted | 44,999.90 | 428.14 | 0.96 |
