Stocks in China on Monday posted their biggest one-day gain in a month on expectations Beijing will maintain its market support by buying shares.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index gained 84.13 points, or 0.4%, to 20,080.69
The Japanese yen weakened Monday, with the U.S. dollar last at 124.49 Japanese yen, from ¥124.21 late Friday in Asia. The U.S. dollar had strengthened immediately after the jobs report before investors booked profits on its recent gains, pushing the currency lower.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index surrendered 31.35 points, or 0.1%, to 24,521.12. Disappointing trade and factory-price data from China over the weekend pressured shares in Hong Kong.
Exports in July slid 8.3% from a year earlier, reversing a gain of 2.8% in June, and imports fell for the ninth month in a row, dropping 8.1%, after a decline of 6.1% in June. The government also announced factory prices in July extended more than three years of declines, with the producer-price index taking its biggest year-over-year tumble in nearly six years.
A number of Chinese shipping companies are halted from trading Monday, with analysts expecting potential consolidation by the state of the country’s massive shipping sector.
Those firms include the Hong Kong- and Shanghai-listed units of state-owned China Ocean Shipping Co. and China Shipping Group, including China Cosco Holdings Co., Cosco Pacific Ltd., Cosco International Holdings Ltd., China Shipping Container Lines Co. and China Shipping Development Co.
Elsewhere in Asia, shares pared earlier losses, after a solid U.S. jobs report Friday increased confidence the Federal Reserve could raise short-term interest rates as soon as next month. The central bank’s low-rate policy has helped drive a six-year stock rally.
CHINA
In China, the CSI 300 hiked 177.42 points, or 4.5%, to 4,084.37.
The gains come after poor economic data from the weekend encouraged hopes that the government would keep adding to its buying streak over the past month to prop up shares.
Regulators didn’t announce fresh measures to support the market Monday, although analysts estimate the government funds have bought hundreds of billions of yuan worth of shares to stabilize its performance. Last week China’s stock regulator began to crack down on short selling, which helped send Shanghai up more than 2% for the week.
On Friday, China’s securities regulator said it has called on the nation’s securities brokers and fund managers to help stabilize the stock market, which is roughly a quarter off its mid-June peak.
In meetings with officials from the securities industry, a senior official with the China Securities Regulatory Commission also called for stepped-up supervision over margin trading in an effort to limit market risk, the regulator said. Margin trading, which allows investors to buy shares with borrowed funds, has been a factor in China’s huge stock-market run-up and subsequent dramatic drop.
In other markets
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index returned from a long weekend to pick up 5.27 points, or 0.2%, to 3.196.66
In Taiwan, the Taiex index spiked 24.55 points, or 0.3%, to 8,466.84
In Korea, the Kospi index lost 3.06 points, or 0.2%, to 2,010.23
The NZX 50 let go of 3.63 points, or 0.1%, to 5,865.02
The ASX 200 Index recaptured 34.38 points, or 0.6%, to 5,509.16
