Asia-Pacific markets opened mixed on Monday, following a similar session on Wall Street last Friday, while investors parsed regional economic data.
By 11:40 am AEDT (12:40 am GMT), Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.2%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.3%. South Korea’s Kospi 200 bucked the trend, climbing 1.6%, buoyed by gains in major tech exporters - Samsung Electronics rose 3% and chipmaker SK hynix jumped 5.5%.
In economic news, Japan’s economy contracted by 0.4% in the quarter ended September, a smaller decline than expected compared with the previous quarter.
U.S. markets on Friday were mixed: the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7%, the S&P 500 edged down 0.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.1%.
Commodity markets saw Brent crude rise 2.2% to US$64.39 per barrel, while spot gold slipped 2.1% to US$4,089.62 per ounce.
China’s major indexes pulled back from recent highs, with the Shanghai Composite down 1% to 3,990.5 and the CSI 300 easing 1.6% to 4,628.1.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.9% to 26,572.5. India’s BSE Sensex edged up 0.1% to 84,562.8.
European equities extended Friday’s declines, with the FTSE 100 down 1.1% to 9,698.4, Germany’s DAX dipping 0.7% to 23,876.6, and France’s CAC 40 losing 0.8% to 8,170.1.
