Japanese Equities Were Pressured by Stronger Yen

Asian equities closed Monday’s trading session on mixed notes where Chinese shares closed in the green while, Japanese Stocks closed lower due to the strength of the Japanese Yen.

Chinese shares rose sharply today as the gains which have been generated by Basic Materials, Industrials and Telecoms sectors pushed the shares up, where both indices Shanghai Composite and Shanghai Shenzhen added around 1 percent each to close Monday’s trading session in the green at 2,859.52 and 3,525.78 respectively.

On the other hand, Korean equities were pressured by the losses in Healthcare, Technology and Industrials shares as the market’s main index dropped by 0.87 or 19.88 points to end the session lower at 2,269.31.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong shares rose on Monday where market’s primary benchmark Hang Seng added 0.11 percent or 31.64 to end the session up at 28,256.12 as the gains in Telecom Services, Financials, and Energy stocks have pushed the shares up.

In United States news, the U.S. President Donald Trump commented on the hiking of interest rate where he said that the increase in interest rates would pressure the competitive advantage of the U.S. economy.

Moreover, he added that if China does not go back from its trade policy he is ready to impose a $500 billion on the Chinese goods which would be imported by the United States.

Japanese Stock Market

Japanese shares were trading lower on Monday as the primary Japanese benchmark dropped by 1.33 percent or 300.89 points to end lower at 22,396.99 pressured by the losses in all sectors except for the Financials sector that added 2.23 percent.

Due to stronger Yen, the major exporters closed in the red where Panasonic fell by more than 1 percent, Sony fell by 0.6 percent, Canon down by 0.5 percent and Mitsubishi plunged by 0.2 percent.

Among Auto firms, Toyota and Honda both dropped by 1 percent each.

On the other hand, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial added around 4 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial advanced by more than 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. Dollar fell against the Japanese Yen on the back of Trump’s announcements where USDJPY trades at 111.34 at 09.00 GMT.

Australian Stock Market

Moreover, Australian equities closed the session down as S&P/ASX 200 fell by 0.93 percent or 58.30 points to end the session in the red at 6,227.60 as the losses in Healthcare, Consumer Cyclicals and Technology shares have weighed on the stocks.

Among the Big four banks, ANZ, NAB, Commonwealth and Westpac banks dropped between 0.3 and 0.6 percent.

In terms of energy shares, Santos and Woodside dropped by 0.5 and 0.2 respectively while Oil Search’s stock added 0.2 percent.

The shares of Agriculture Chemicals Suppliers tumbled by more than 8 percent after Nufarm expect a significant decline in its annual earnings due to the lack of rains across the region.

In the Forex market, the Aussie fell against its U.S. counterpart to trade at 0.7402 at 9:15 GMT.