Asian Stock Market: Trades cautiously as oil prices sink amid risk-off mood
- Asian stocks trade mixed on the first trading day of the week following mixed cues from Wall Street.
- US Dollar Index manages to rebound from the earlier lower levels following disappointing NFP data on Friday.
- Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said Australia must diversify its economy from China’s dependence on trade and business.
Most of the Asia-pacific stocks trade mixed on Monday while Wall Street ended the previous session on a mixed note after NFP data surprised the market.
Investors turn cautious after dismal US Nonfarm payrolls (NFP) data, which came at 235k jobs in August, falling much below the market consensus of 750k new jobs addition.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.2%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 1.75%, rising for the sixth consecutive session on the optimism that new leadership would bring another round of massive stimulus to support the economic recovery.
The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.38% fueled by the statement of the Public Bank of China (PBoC’s) Vice Governor that China would stick to improve monetary policy controls.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.01%, South Korea’s Kospi traded down 0.05%.
The ASX 200 lost 1.03% to a more than two-week low, dragged by the mounting fresh cases of coronavirus concerns. Australia record 1,684 fresh new virus cases on Sunday.
The US Dollar Index (DXY) trades near 92.20 with modest gains after an initial slow start.
Oil prices drooped more than 1% on Monday following the world’s top exporter Saudi Arabia price cut for Asia over the weekend on demand concerns.