The stock markets in East Asia and Australia tend to be mixed in the course of trading. The Chinese stock exchanges are slightly up, the other places are going down, most strongly in Japan, where the Nikkei 0.9 percent to 32,108 points. The significantly firmer yen is also creating headwind here, especially for export stocks.
As in the USA, the mood is somewhat dampened by the US labor market data from Friday. They did show job growth that was lower than assumed. At the same time, the unemployment rate remained low and wage growth high. Overall, the data confirmed expectations that the Federal Reserve will hike rates at its next meeting in July.
In Shanghai where the Composite Gaining 0.2 percent, Chinese inflation data for June are in the spotlight. They turned out lower than forecast. This is fueling expectations of a looser monetary policy from the central bank. There is also hope that Beijing will take measures to stimulate the economy. Analysts at China Merchants Securities believe that the positive trend could continue in the coming months. Investor sentiment is likely to improve as domestic companies’ profits are expected to continue improving operationally, analysts said.
Tech stocks are on the up in Hong Kong. Alibaba is up another 3.5 percent after subsidiary Ant was fined $984 million for violating the law. Tencent was also fined. The penalties are accompanied by the hope in retail that the regulatory action against Chinese technology companies could now have come to an end.
