All the Asian markets, barring Hang Seng and Jakarta Composite concluded Monday’s trade in green with Japan’s Nikkei share average rising to a one-week high as softer yen underpinned sentiment and traders shrugged off somewhat weak US jobs data. Investors were however cautious before new Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s testimony scheduled this week. Japan posted its smallest current account surplus on record last year, throwing the spotlight back on Tokyo’s ability to service its huge debt and exposing a danger point in an economy starting to find its feet after years of underperformance. For 2013, Japan’s current account recorded a 3.3 trillion yen surplus. This was the smallest surplus in comparable data available from 1985. In December, the deficit stood at 638.6 billion yen ($6.25 billion), against a median forecast for 707.7 billion yen.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 2086.07 | 41.57 | 2.03 |
Hang Seng | 21579.26 | -57.59 | -0.27 |
Jakarta Composite | 4450.75 | -15.92 | -0.36 |
KLSE Composite | 1816.14 | 7.55 | 0.42 |
Nikkei 225 | 14718.34 | 255.93 | 1.77 |
Straits Times | 3017.20 | 4.06 | 0.13 |
KOSPI Composite | 1923.30 | 0.80 | 0.04 |
Taiwan Weighted | 8391.95 | 4.60 | 0.05 |