Euro-zone woes keep Asian equities in cautious mood

Stock markets across the Asian region traded on an unenthusiastic note on Tuesday with not many markets showing sharp upmove. Investors searched for triggers to open fresh positions, lacking any cues from the US markets which remained closed on Monday for the Memorial Day holiday and were unable to give any direction to the region’s markets. However, unsupportive developments from European region continued to weigh on sentiments as reports showed Spanish bond yields jumped higher while the concerns over the nation’s troubled banks showed little signs of easing.

Apart from growing concerns that European banks would need more financial support, market participants also worried about the weaker than expected employment data from world’s third largest Japanese economy. The benchmark in Japan fell about one third of a percent after the jobs data indicated that unemployment unexpectedly rose to 4.6 percent in April from 4.5 percent in March, the first increase in three months. On the flipside, the equity index in Taiwan showed resilience and rallied by over two percent being the top gainer in the space.

Shanghai Composite climbed 19.29 points or 0.82% to 2,380.65, Hang Seng Index advanced 43.61 points or 0.23% to 18,844.60, Straits Times Index added 2.75 points or 0.10% to 2,789.97, KOSPI Composite Index gained 10.70 points or 0.59% to 1,834.87 and Taiwan Weighted spurted 169.46 points or 2.37% to 7,305.46.

On the other hand, Jakarta Composite eased 13.61 points or 0.35% to 3,905.07, KLSE Composite dropped 0.84 points or 0.05% to 1,554.10 and Nikkei 225 fell 30.29 points or 0.35% to 8,562.86.