By Investors Hub
Asian stocks ended mixed on Monday as investors digested a mixed U.S. jobs report and kept an eye on intensifying trade tensions between the U.S. and China.
Chinese shares fell after Beijing’s latest tariff threats escalated the tit-for-tat U.S.-China trade war. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gave up early gains to close 2,705.16 points or 1.3 percent lower at 2,705.16. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 243.24 points or 0.5 percent to 27,819.56.
The overseas edition of the ruling Communist Party’s People’s Daily newspaper said U.S. President Donald Trump was “starring in his own carefully orchestrated street fighter-style deceitful drama” in which diplomacy had been reduced to a “trading game in which everything should follow the rule of America first”.
The yuan also weakened despite China’s central bank late on Friday raising the reserve requirement on foreign exchange forward positions.
Japanese shares fell in cautious trade as investors looked forward to a raft of corporate earnings as well as this week’s bilateral talks between Washington and Tokyo. The Nikkei 225 Index fluctuated before finishing marginally lower at 22,507.32, while the broader Topix Index ended down 0.6 percent at 1,732.90.
Taisei Corp plunged 13 percent after its quarterly profit fell over 34 percent from last year. Foster Electric plummeted as much as 23 percent after predicting a net loss of 2.5 billion yen for the year ending March 2019. NTT Data jumped 7.5 percent after its April-June profit grew 23 percent.
Australian shares finished modestly higher as a rebound in commodity prices on Friday helped lift miners. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index climbed 38.20 points or 0.6 percent to 6,273, while the broader All Ordinaries Index ended up 32.60 points or 0.5 percent at 6,359.
Mining heavyweights BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto rose 2.2 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively. Commonwealth Bank of Australia gained 1 percent ahead of its annual results due on Wednesday, while the other three banks rose between 0.3 percent and 1 percent. Wealth manager AMP dropped 1.4 percent.
Galaxy Resources shares rallied 3.3 percent. The company said its agreement with Posco for the sale of certain Argentinean assets was ahead of schedule.
