Shares in Japan and Shanghai rallied to fresh two-and-a-half-month highs, lifted by a weaker yen and stimulus hopes, respectively, while worries about China’s slowdown drove most other Asian markets lower.
The Nikkei 225 vaulted 377.14 points, or 2%, to 19,642.74, its highest close since late August.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng tumbled 140.56 points, or 0.6%, to 22,726.77
Shares in Japan rose as the yen reached a fresh low since late August, with the dollar trading at ¥123.33.
The dollar was at around ¥121.80 in Asia Friday before the U.S. jobs report. A weaker yen boosts shares of exporters, whose goods become cheaper with a weaker currency.
Japanese insurance firms gained on expectations of higher U.S. interest rates, with Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co. up 5.1%.
Shares in Australia fell, as commodity prices continued to decline.
Shares of BHP Billiton Ltd., Australia’s largest commodity producer, were down 5% after a deadly dam break at one of its jointly owned mines in Brazil. After the largest spill of its kind, the official death toll of three is expected to rise, with at least 28 people confirmed missing.
The mine’s operator, Samarco Mineração SA, is jointly owned by Vale SA of Brazil and Australia’s BHP Billiton.
Shares of Santos Ltd. were halted pending plans to issue new shares to existing investors and Chinese private-equity firm Hony Capital.
Together, with the sale of stake in a gas field to Japan’s Mitsui & Co., the debt-laden firm will raise 3.5 billion Australian dollars ($2.46 billion U.S.).
In Japan, Shares of Toshiba Corp. are down 7.5%, after the company said on Saturday that it lost ¥90.49 billion ($735 million U.S.) during the April-to-September period, compared with an operating profit of ¥137.87 billion a year earlier. The firm’s consumer-electronics business continues to struggle while profit also fell at its cash-cow flash-memory business.
CHINA
The CSI 300 in Shanghai jumped 46.98 points, or 1.2%, to 3,840.36
Over the weekend, data showed Chinese exports in October fell for the fourth consecutive month, by 6.9% year-over-year in dollar terms, after a drop of 3.7% in September. The October figure was worse than the median 4.1% decline forecast in a Wall Street Journal poll.
In China, investors are also assessing the impact of regulators’ announcement late Friday plans to lift a ban on initial public offerings, after suspending them in July in the heat of a share selloff.
China’s stock regulator has adjusted the timing of public offerings in the past — depending on how the market is trading — introducing new listings when it believes investor appetite is healthy enough. Since 1990, the market has declined five times and risen four during periods when regulators allowed companies to list, according to a morning note by Bank of Communications Ltd.
Yields on the Chinese five-year government bond jumped to 3.05% early Friday, the highest in a month. An IPO relaunch is expected to get investors switching out of debt into equities.
Yields on the bonds last traded at 2.98%, roughly flat from Friday’s close.
Lu said the Chinese exports data could pressure authorities to step up stimulus, which would boost markets later Monday.
On Saturday, China’s central bank reported that foreign-exchange reserves in October rose by $11.39 billion to $3.526 trillion U.S., ending a five-month streak of monthly declines. Economists said it signaled weaker expectations among investors that the yuan would depreciate further and signal that officials’ efforts to stem illegal outflows have met some success.
In other markets
The Kospi index in Korea lost 15.37 points, or 0.8%, to 2,025.70
Taiwan’s Taiex index dropped 51.09 points, or 0.6%, to 8,642.48
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index slumped 12.75 points, or 0.4%, to 2,997.72
The NZX 50 subtracted 21.85 points, or 0.4%, to 6,047.86
The ASX 200 plummeted 95.51 points, or 1.8%, to 5,119.50
