Yahoo Finance Asian Markets Mixed; Chinese Stocks Continue to Fall
Investing.com - Asian markets were mixed in morning trade on Monday. Chinese stocks continued to fall, pressured by reports from last week that Beijing may be reluctant to add stimulus.
China’s Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component fell 0.1% and 0.8% respectively by 10:30 PM ET (02:30 GMT).
Last week, the state-owned Xinhua reported that the Chinese government might not add stimulus in the short term amid concerns of assets bubbles.
The news were cited as a headwind for Chinese stocks, which fell about 5% last week.
While not a directional driver, Bloomberg reported on Monday citing people with knowledge of the matter that China’s securities regulator is aiming to speed up the review process for initial public offerings.
China is hoping approve at least four IPO applications each week, according to the report.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.9%.
Elsewhere, South Korea’s KOSPI gained 0.8%, while Australia’s ASX 200 was down 0.5%.
Japan’s markets are closed as the country kicks off a week of holidays.
Traders now look forward to the Federal Reserve policy meeting and U.S. jobs numbers due Wednesday and Friday respectively this week.
U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday following strong U.S. gross domestic product in the first quarter.
Sino-U.S. trade headlines remained in focus as U.S. sends a high-level delegation to Beijing this week for more talks.
The White House said in a statement last week that the two sides would be discussing trade issues including intellectual property, forced technology transfer, non-tariff barriers, agriculture, services, purchases, and enforcement.
“I think they are now pretty close to the moment where there will be a breakthrough, ” Børge Brende, president of the World Economic Forum, told CNBC in an interview.
“I think it is in the common interest of the largest economy in the world, the U.S., and the second-largest economy in the world, China, to find solutions on those trade issues. That implies that both of them have to show flexibility in these negotiations,” Brende added.
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