Shares in Asia-Pacific were mixed in Monday trade as investors reacted to Chinese trade data for May.
Mainland Chinese stocks were lower by Monday afternoon, with the Shanghai composite declining 0.21% while the Shenzhen component slipped 0.673%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.77%.
China’s exports in dollar terms rose 27.9% in May as compared with a year earlier, according to customs data released Monday. That was lower than forecasts by analysts in a Reuters poll for a 32.1% year-on-year jump in exports.
Meanwhile, the Nikkei 225 in Japan gained 0.45% and the Topix index rose 0.19%. South Korea’s Kospi advanced 0.3%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.11%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan traded 0.18% lower.
In other developments, finance ministers from the Group of Seven over the weekend backed a U.S. proposal that calls for firms globally to pay at least 15% tax on earnings.
Markets in Malaysia and New Zealand are closed on Monday for holidays.
TICKER COMPANY NAME PRICE CHANGE %CHANGE
.N225 Nikkei 225 Index NIKKEI 29033.01 91.49 0.32
.HSI Hang Seng Index HSI 28753.04 -165.06 -0.57
.AXJO S&P/ASX 200 ASX 200 7289.20 -6.20 -0.08
.SSEC Shanghai SHANGHAI 3588.73 -3.11 -0.09
.KS11 KOSPI Index KOSPI 3255.62 15.54 0.48
.FTFCNBCA CNBC 100 ASIA IDX CNBC 100 11109.41 -3.47 -0.03
Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 90.168 following a recent decline from above 90.4.
The Japanese yen traded at 109.54 per dollar, after strengthening late last week from above 110.1 against the greenback. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7732, after climbing from levels below $0.768 late last week.
Oil prices were lower in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures down 0.54% to $71.50 per barrel. U.S. crude futures shed 0.4% to $69.34 per barrel.
