TOKYO — Asian shares mostly declined Monday, although Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index touched another record high in morning trading.
The Nikkei 225
JP:NIK
gained 0.5% to 39,309.76. Trading was closed in Tokyo for a holiday on Friday. The benchmark surged to an all-time high on Thursday.
In currency trading, the dollar
USDJPY,
edged up to 150.49 Japanese yen from 150.47 yen. The weakness of the yen is one factor attracting many foreign investors to Japanese shares, said Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management.
He said investors were selling to lock in profits from recent gains in Chinese markets, which have rallied slightly after a months-long slump.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng
HK:HSI
dipped 0.7%, while the Shanghai Composite
CN:SHCOMP
dropped 0.7%.
Elsewhere in Asia, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200
AU:XJO
was little changed, inching down less than 0.1%. South Korea’s Kospi
KR:180721
slipped 0.8%.
On Friday, Wall Street finished the week with a record high, mostly on the back of a strong technology sector. But some technology company shares weakened, or stood little changed, such as Nvidia
NVDA,
The S&P 500 index
SPX
rose less than 0.1% to 5,088.80. That marked another record high for the benchmark index and its sixth winning week in the last seven.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA
rose 0.2% to 39,131.53 while the Nasdaq
COMP
slipped 0.3% to 15,996.82.
Earnings remain the big focus this week, as a key indicator on where the U.S. and global economies are headed. Among the U.S. companies reporting results are home improvement retailer Lowe’s, discount retailer Dollar Tree , computer maker HP and electronics retailer Best Buy.
More economic data are also upcoming on consumer sentiment, inflation and the U.S. economy. An update on the pace of growth in the United States in the October-December quarter is due on Wednesday.
The Federal Reserve has been trying to tame inflation back to its target of 2%. Previous data on consumer and wholesale prices came in hotter than Wall Street expected. Traders now expect the Fed to cut rates in June instead of March.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude
CLJ24,
lost 42 cents to $76.07 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude
BRNJ24,
the international standard, lost 40 cents to $80.40 a barrel.
Read the full article here
