Asian Markets Mostly Lower Amid Cautious Trades

Asian stock markets are mostly lower on Monday following mixed cues from Wall Street on Friday, with only the tech-heavy Nasdaq moving higher. Technology and oil stocks are offering some support, while investors continue to be concerned about a recent surge in global bond yields and the prospects of a global economic recovers. Asian markets closed mostly lower on Friday.

The Australian stock market is higher on Monday, shrugging off early losses, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 bouncing back from three-week lows to stay above the 6,700 level, as weakness in materials and financials were more than offset by gains energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 42.00 points or 0.63 percent to 6,750.20, after hitting a low of 6,688.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 33.80 points or 0.49 percent to 6,993.40. Australian stocks closed lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are edging down 0.5 percent each, while OZ Minerals is losing almost 1 percent each. Fortescue Metals is down more than 4 percent and Mineral Resources is losing more than 2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher after crude oil prices jumped on Friday. Oil Search, Woodside Petroleum and Santos are adding almost 2 percent each.

The big four banks are mixed. National Australia Bank and ANZ Banking are edging up 0.5 percent each, while Westpac is edging down 0.1 percent and Commonwealth Bank is lower by 0.5 percent.

ANZ and CBA announced that they have reached a settlement in the US rate rigging class action brought against it and few other banks in 2016.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay is gaining almost 3 percent, while WiseTech Global and Appen are edging up 0.3 percent each.

Among gold miners, Newcrest Mining is edging up 0.5 percent and Evolution Mining is adding almost 2 percent, while Northern Star Resources is losing almost 1 percent.

Heavy rains and flooding over the weekend in some parts of the country, the worst flooding in half a century, put pressure on local insurers and real estate stocks. Insurance giant IAG is losing more than 2 percent, QBE Insurance is down more than 1 percent and Suncorp declining almost 2 percent.

Shares in Crown Resorts jumped more than 17 percent after the beleaguered casino giant received an $8 billion takeover bid from the private equity group Blackstone.

Shares in AnteoTech are also soaring almost 18 percent after the diagnostics firm revealed positive results for a rapid COVID-19 antigen test.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.772 on Monday.

The Japanese stock market is sharply lower on Monday, extending losses of the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 plunging more than 600 points earlier to fall below the 29,200 level, on weakness across the board as investors remain concerned about a recent surge in global bond yields and the prospects of a global economic recovers. Meanwhile, the Japanese government lifted the state of emergency in the Tokyo area on Sunday.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 29,248.90, down 543.15 points or 1.82 percent, after hitting a low of 29,107.63 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging down 0.4 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing almost 3 percent. Among automakers, Honda is declining more than 3 percent and Toyota is down more than 2 percent.

The major exporters are also lower. Panasonic and Mitsubishi Electric are down more than 2 percent, while Sony is losing almost 1 percent and Canon is declining more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are losing almost 1 percent each. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are down almost 1 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Unitika and Mitsui OSK Lines are gaining almost 5 percent each, while Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha is adding almost 4 percent and Nippon Yusen is up almost 3 percent. Nippon Steel, CyberAgent, Screen holdings and NEC are higher by almost 2 percent.

Conversely, Kikkoman and Nissan Chemical are losing almost 5 percent, while Tokio Marine, Keio, Denso, Sumitomo Electric, Odakyu Electric Railway and Toyota Tsusho are lower by more than 4 percent. Daikin Industries, Yamaha, Casio, Takara Holdings and Keisei Electric Railway are declining almost 4 percent each.

In economic news, Japan will see final January numbers for its leading and coincident indexes today. The leading index is expected to see a score of 99.1, up from 97.7 in December. The coincident is pegged at 91.7, up from 88.2 previously.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 108 yen-range on Monday.

Elsewhere in Asia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong and South Korea are losing between 0.1 and 0.6 percent. Meanwhile, China, Singapore and Taiwan are up between 0.4 and 0.5 percent

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a mixed performance during trading on Friday after ending the previous session sharply lower. While the Nasdaq rebounded after yesterday’s sell-off, the Dow showed a notable move to the downside.

The major averages finished the day on opposite sides of the unchanged line. The Nasdaq climbed 99.07 points or 0.8 percent to 13,215.24, but the Dow slid 234.33 points or 0.7 percent to 32,627.97 and the S&P 500 edged down 2.36 points or 0.1 percent to 3,913.10.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. The French CAC 40 Index, the German DAX Index and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index all slumped by 1.1 percent.

Crude oil futures closed higher on Friday, rebounding after five successive days of losses, but still ended with a sharp weekly loss. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended up $1.42 or 2.4 percent at $61.42 a barrel.

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