- Asian shares traded on a mixed note on Monday
- Mainland China and Hong Kong indexes made small gains
- Indexes in South Korea and Australia finish on a lower note
Asian markets veered up to recover from their early morning losses on March 18, 2019, as investors continue to wait for substantial developments on the US-China trade talks, reports CNBC.
Mainland China and Hong Kong Indexes Post Modest Gains
Asian stocks traded mixed during the afternoon session on Monday.
Shares in Mainland China recovered from their early morning losses as they finished the day’s trade on a higher note. The Shanghai composite and the Shenzhen component were up 1.2 and 1.659 percent, respectively. In the same vein, the Shenzhen composite recorded a gain to the tune of 1.329 percent.
The market was of similar flavor in Hong Kong as its Hang-Seng index gained 0.7 percent. Notably, shares of MTR, a company in the business of railways, fell more than 0.7 percent on the back of a train collision that briefly disrupted services in the city.
Last Friday, South China Morning Post reported slight progress on the US-China trade tensions. The report stated that “the two sides have further made concrete progress on the text of the trade agreement between the two sides.”
David de Garis, a director and senior economist at National Australia Bank, said in a morning note:
“While there is presumably a strong US political imperative to get a deal done ahead of next year’s elections, and presumably China is keen to bed down this issue, and while we expect a deal to be proclaimed, we can only believe it once it’s seen.”
Japanese and South Korean Markets
Japan’s Nikkei 225 posted a marginal gain of 0.6 percent on the back of strong performance by shares of Fast Retailing, Softbank Group, and Fanuc. The island nation’s Topix index also had a healthy day in the market as it gained 0.55 percent.
Conversely, neighboring South Korea’s shares ended the day on a slightly lower note. Kospi declined 0.1 percent due to fall in the shares of electronics juggernaut Samsung Electronics by more than 1 percent. Australia’s ASX 200 also ended the day on a lower note.
