TOKYO: Asian stocks turned mixed early Monday, with China’s Shanghai Composite index scaling fresh seven-year peaks, as investors reacted to a raft of economic data.
The mainland’s yuan-denominated imports tumbled 17.9 percent in May from a year earlier, while exports fell by 2.5 percent. This translated into a monthly trade surplus of 366.8 billion yuan ($59.49 billion), which is close to the record $60.5 billion surplus recorded in February, when numbers were distorted by the Chinese New Year.
In Japan, revised government data showed revised first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) expanded an annualized 3.9 percent, much higher than the preliminary reading of a 2.4 percent increase, signaling the country’s growth recovery. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the economy grew 1 percent, higher than the preliminary reading of 0.6 percent.
Meanwhile, Japan’s current account balance for April came in at 1.3 trillion yen, down from 2.9 trillion yen in the previous month.
On Friday, U.S. stocks closed narrowly mixed as investors eyed developments in Greece and weighed a bond yield rally on a strong jobs report, which supports the case for a rate hike this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 eased 0.3 and 0.1 percent, respectively, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq inched up 0.2 percent.
Shares in Shanghai rewrote their highest levels since January 2008, after slipping briefly into the red earlier in the session, as export numbers came in better than the 5 percent fall forecast by Reuters.
An announcement from the China Securities Regulatory Commission last week about how it is amending margin-trading and short-selling rules seemed to have little market impact. However, traders are likely to remain on the cautious side, considering the extreme volatility that the market saw last week, while awaiting trade data for May which are expected to show exports falling 5 percent on-year and imports plunging 10.7 percent on-year in May, according to a Reuters poll.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index pared earlier losses to eke out marginal gains of 0.1 percent.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index erased earlier gains to fall into negative territory, as a stronger yen offset the impact of upbeat growth data. The dollar-yen was last quoted at 125.4, with the yen gaining ground of around 0.2 percent against the greenback.
Export-oriented stocks were mostly lower due to the currency; blue-chip Toyota Motor and Nissan eased 1.3 percent each, while Sony and Panasonic lost 1.4 and 0.9 percent, respectively.
Following higher energy prices last Friday, oil-related counters got a boost. JX Holdings and Inpex advanced 1.1 and 0.3 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, airlines and power plays were stung by the firmer oil prices, with Japan Airlines and Tokyo Electric Power receding 1.7 and 2 percent, respectively.
