Asia-Pacific stocks mixed; oil prices jump about 1%
Shares in Asia-Pacific were mixed on Monday as investors reacted to China’s trade data released over the weekend.
Mainland Chinese stocks recovered from earlier losses to close higher, with the Shanghai composite up 0.2% to 3,498.63 while the Shenzhen component climbed 0.32% to 14,508.86.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dipped around 0.4% as of its final hour of trading. South Korea’s Kospi closed 0.31% lower at 2,960.20.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan slipped 0.35% to close at 29,507.05 while the Topix index fell 0.3% to finish the trading day at 2,035.22. Australian stocks closed mildly lower, with the S&P/ASX 200 dipping fractionally to 7,452.20.
Elsewhere, Taiwan’s Taiex closed 0.68% higher at 17,415.30.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan rose 0.14%.
Official data released over the weekend showed China’s exports surging 27.1% in October as compared with a year ago. That was higher than the 24.5% growth forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll.
Oil prices were higher in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures up 0.88% to $83.47 per barrel. U.S. crude futures gained 1% to $82.08 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 94.267 after recently declining from levels above 94.5.
The Japanese yen traded at 113.55 per dollar, stronger than levels above 114 seen against the greenback last week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.74 after last week’s drop from above $0.75.
