Asian stocks were mostly higher on Monday after Japan and China released data reflecting relatively modest growth in Asia’s two largest economies.
The euro rose after the fall of the far-right government. National Rally Takes Big Lead The first congressional elections saw the yen weaken, trading at around 161 yen to the dollar, while U.S. futures and oil prices rose.
Pollsters have suggested the National Coalition could win a majority in the lower house, but the outcome is uncertain and the voting system is complicated.
The euro rose to $1.0757 from $1.0713.
U.S. futures and oil prices rose.
The Bank of Japan’s quarterly Tankan survey showed a slight improvement in business sentiment among the country’s major manufacturers in the April-June period, helping Japan’s benchmark stock index, the Nikkei average, rise 0.3% to 39,693.29.
However, the government revised down its growth forecast for the first quarter of this year from minus 1.8% to an annualized minus 2.9%.
“Across all industries and company sizes, business sentiment is stable at 12, which is in line with historical trends and quarterly GDP growth of around 0%,” Marcel Thierryand of Capital Economics said in his assessment of the Tankan. “A new slowdown in GDP growth this quarter would be consistent with the decline in industrial production that companies were expecting in June.”
The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.3 percent to 2,976.64 after a factory purchasing managers’ survey released over the weekend showed conditions had contracted for a second straight month.
But a similar survey of private manufacturing activity released on Monday showed the economy was picking up. The Caixin manufacturing PMI rose to 51.8 in June on a 100-point scale, up from 51.7 in June. A reading above 50 is considered an expansion.
The Hong Kong market was closed for a public holiday.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.3% to 7,744.20. South Korea’s KOSPI rose 0.2% to 2,802.87 after a private survey showed South Korean manufacturing activity rose to its highest level since April 2022.
A late sell-off on Friday led to a drop in the S&P 500, which fell 0.4% to 5,460.48, its loss for the week. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.7% to 17,732.60 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.1% at 39,118.86.
Despite the weak close, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq remain near all-time highs.
The S&P 500 rose 3.5% in June and is up about 14.5% so far this year.
The Nasdaq is up about 6% this month and 18.1% this year.
Losses in big technology stocks, which have made big gains during the market’s record rally, weighed on the market on Friday. Apple closed down 1.6%, Microsoft 1.3% and Meta Platforms 3%.
According to the report: Inflation continues to easeInvestors are hoping that subdued inflation will prompt the Federal Reserve to start cutting interest rates, which are at their highest in more than two decades.
Consumer prices rose 2.6% year-on-year in May, according to the latest personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index, signaling a continued easing from April’s 2.7% increase and well below the 7.1% peak two years ago.
In the bond market, Treasury yields rose after initially falling in response to the latest signal of easing inflation. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which influences interest rates on mortgages and other consumer loans, rose to 4.38%. The yield on the two-year note, which more accurately reflects expectations of Fed action, rose to 4.74% from 4.72% just before the data was released.
The Federal Reserve has raised interest rates to their highest level in more than two decades to keep inflation at its 2% target, and other inflation measures, such as the well-known Consumer Price Index, also confirm that price pressures are easing.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude rose 39 cents to $81.93 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while the international standard Brent crude rose 41 cents to $85.41 a barrel.
