Asian Markets Trading Mostly Lower

Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Monday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, as traders continue to react to U.S. inflation data and heightened geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Worries about the fast spreading coronavirus Omicron variant’s impact on global economic growth also continues to impact market sentiment. Asian markets closed mostly lower on Friday.

During a press briefing, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan suggested a Russian invasion could occur during the Winter Olympics currently being held in Beijing.

The Australian stock market is modestly higher in choppy trading on Monday, recouping some of the sharp losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying above the 7,200 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, with strong gains in energy and gold mining stocks amid a spike in gold and crude oil prices, which is at a seven-year high amid escalating fears of an invasion of Ukraine by Russia, a top energy producer.

Meanwhile, traders remain concerned over the domestic COVID-19 cases, though the daily new cases are on a steady decline. New South Wales reported 6,184 new cases and 14 deaths on Sunday. Victoria also reported 7,104 new cases and two deaths, Queensland reported 3,750 new cases and six deaths, ACT reported 375 new cases and Tasmania reported 408 new cases.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 46.20 points or 0.64 percent to 7,263.50, after touching a high of 7,263.50 and a low of 7,181.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 38.20 points or 0.51 percent to 7,554.00. Australian stocks closed sharply lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is losing more than 1 percent, Rio Tinto is down almost 1 percent and Mineral Resources is slipping more than 5 percent, while OZ Minerals and Fortescue Metals are declining almost 2 percent each.

Oil stocks are higher, with Beach energy soaring more than 7 percent, Woodside Petroleum adding 3.5 percent, Santos is gaining more than 4 percent and Origin Energy is advancing more than 2 percent.

Beach Energy posted a 66 percent increase in half-year profit on soaring commodity prices.

Among tech stocks, Appen and Zip are losing almost 4 percent each, while WiseTech Global is edging down 0.20 percent, Xero is losing more than 1 percent and Block is edging down 0.50 percent.

Gold miners are higher after a spike in gold prices. Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources are soaring more than 8 percent each, while Gold Road Resources is surging almost 7 percent, Newcrest Mining is gaining more than 5 percent and Resolute Mining is advancing more than 9 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are gaining 1.5 percent each, while Westpac is adding almost 4 percent and ANZ Banking is up almost 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Bendigo and Adelaide Bank are advancing almost 4 percent after it reported an 18.7 percent increase in cash earnings for the first half, driven by market share expansion and lower bad debts, but margins were low.

Shares in Crown Resorts are gaining more than 2 percent after the trouble casino operator agreed to a $8.9 billion or $13.10 all cash takeover bid from U.S. private equity giant Blackstone Inc.

Share in JB Hi-Fi are adding more than 4 percent after the electronics retailer announced a dividend and a $250 million share buyback to be completed in April, despite reporting a 9.4 percent drop in first-half profit.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.712 on Monday.

The Japanese stock market is sharply lower on Monday after the holiday on Friday, giving up the gains in the previous three sessions, with the Nikkei 225 plunging more than 700 points to fall below the 27,000 mark, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, on weakness across most sectors as traders react now to the U.S. inflation data and over a possible Russian invasion on Ukraine.

Traders also remain concerned about the domestic coronavirus cases, though the daily new cases are on a steady decline over the weekend.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 26,970.34, down 725.74 points or 2.62 percent, after hitting a low of 26,947.65 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly higher on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 4 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is declining more than 3 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing more than 1 percent and Toyota is slipping almost 4 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing more than 4 percent, Tokyo Electron is declining almost 2 percent and Screen Holdings is down almost 4 percent. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are losing almost 1 percent each, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is adding almost 1 percent.

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

Among the other major losers, Bridgestone is plunging almost 10 percent, M2 is slipping almost 8 percent, Amada is sliding almost 7 percent and Keyence is down almost 6 percent, while Murata Manufacturing and Terumo are losing 5.5 percent each. Z Holdings, FUJIFILM Holdings, Fujikura and NTT Data are declining almost 5 percent each. Trend Micro, Daikin Industries, Yokohama Rubber and Japan Steel Works are down more than 4 percent each.

Conversely, Inpex is surging more than 6 percent, Toho Zinc is gaining almost 5 percent and Citizen Watch is adding more than 4 percent, while Kajima and Haseko are up more than 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 115 yen-range on Monday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Taiwan, New Zealand and South Korea are plunging between 1.6 and 1.7 percent each, while Hong Kong and Indonesia are slipping 1.0 percent each. China and Singapore are down 0.5 and 0.1 percent, respectively. Malaysia is bucking the trend and is up 0.1 percent.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the trading day on Friday, extending the sell-off seen in the previous session. The major averages fluctuated early in the session but showed a substantial move to the downside as the day progressed.

The major averages all posted steep losses on the day, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the way lower. While the Nasdaq plummeted 394.49 points or 2.8 percent to 13,791.15, the Dow slumped 503.53 points or 1.4 percent to 34,738.06 and the S&P 500 tumbled 85.44 points or 1.9 percent to 4,418.64.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index tumbled by 1.3 percent, the German DAX Index fell by 0.4 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index dipped by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Friday following a report from the International Energy Agency that said oil production from OPEC was significantly below target in January. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $3.22 or 3.6 percent at $93.10 a barrel, a fresh seven-year closing high.

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