Asian stocks were mostly higher on Monday, at the end of a quarter that was characterized by poor performances in China and Japan and reviving fortunes in Southeast Asia.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 131.80 points, or 0.9%, to 14,827.83
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong progressed 85.53 points, or 0.4%, to 22,151.06
The declines in the region’s two largest economies, with Japanese stocks on track for their worst quarter in nearly two years, marked a reversal of a key investment trend from late last year when investors shifted away from Southeast Asian markets to North Asian countries that they expected to benefit from a pickup in the global economy.
Sentiment has been soured in Tokyo by the potential economic impact of a hike in the local consumption tax, which will take effect on Tuesday. China however, has been bogged down by persistently poor economic data, as well as rising fears of debt defaults in the corporate sector.
On Monday, Asian stocks maintained the positive momentum from the previous week ahead of a wide range of economic events scheduled to occur over the coming days.
Chinese banks were in focus after China Construction Bank Corporation released upbeat earnings at the latter stages of China’s earnings season. The bank released full-year profits that beat estimates, up 11.1% on the previous year--pushing the lender’s stock up 0.9% in Hong Kong.
Also in Hong Kong, shares in lender Harbin Bank edged 0.3% higher in debut trading after the lender priced the shares from the $1.1 billion U.S. IPO last week close to the bottom of the indicative price range. The bank is the fourth Chinese bank to list in Hong Kong since late last year, with all the earlier deals trading below their listing price.
CHINA
The Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 dipped 5.66 points, or 0.3%, to 2,146.31
On Tuesday, China will release its official manufacturing data and Australia’s central bank will make a decision on interest rates, while at the end of the week attention will be on the U.S. labour report.
In other markets;
In Taiwan, the Taiex added 74.64 points, or 0.9%, to 8,849.28
Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained 16.45 points, or 0.5%, to 3,188.62
Korea’s Kospi Index inched up 4.61 points, or 0.2%, to 1,985.61
The New Zealand Exchange 50 index let go of 2.92 points to 5,139.98
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 took on 27.89 points, or 0.5%, to 5,394.83
