Asia report: Stock prices mixed ahead of inflation releases and interest rate decisions

Markets in the region were preparing for the Bank of Korea's interest rate decision on Thursday and inflation data from Japan and Singapore on Friday.

China is also expected to announce its key interest rates for one- and five-year loans on Tuesday.

“Asian equity markets showed a mixed performance on Monday, reflecting the mixed signals from global markets on Friday,” said TickMill Market analyst Patrick Munnelly.

“This comes against a backdrop of growing confidence that the U.S. economy is heading for a soft landing due to positive U.S. retail sales and improving U.S. consumer sentiment.

“These factors have also increased confidence that the Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates next month, albeit at a less aggressive pace.”

Munnelly noted that comments by Raphael Bostic, president of the Atlanta Fed, and Austan Goolsbee, president of the Chicago Fed, had further reinforced market expectations that the central bank would begin cutting interest rates in September.

“The Japanese stock market is experiencing a slight decline today, ending a five-day winning streak,” he added, noting that the Nikkei index fell below the 38,000 point mark.

“SoftBank Group, a major player in the market, is up over 1%, while Fast Retailing, the operator of Uniqlo, is down slightly by 0.5%.

“In the automotive sector, Honda is up almost 1 percent, while Toyota is down almost 1 percent.”

Markets in mixed mood ahead of busy week for data and interest rate decisions

In Japan Nikkei225 fell sharply by 1.77% to close at 37,388.62, while the Topix The index fell 1.4% to 2,641.14.

Among the biggest losers of the Japanese benchmark index were Ebarawhich fell by 5.98%, Isetan Mitsukoshi with a decrease of 5.53% and Murata Manufacturinga decrease of 4.59%.

The Chinese markets performed better. Shanghai Composite by 0.49% to 2,893.67 and the Shenzhen component rose by 0.08% to 8,356.90.

Sichuan Changhong Electric rose 10.09%, leading gains in Shanghai, closely followed by Fujian Kuncai material technology And Changyuan Groupboth rose by about 10%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index Shares also recorded positive development, rising by 0.8% to 17,569.57.

Notable artists included JD Health Internationalwhich rose by 7.93%, Li-Ning Co an increase of 7.48% and Li Car Increase of 5.29%.

South Korea's Kospi fell by 0.85% to 2,674.36, with Kogas Drop of 7.13%, CS Wind Corporation by 5.38% and Cosmo AM&T fell by 5.14%.

Australia's S&P/ASX200 recorded a modest gain of 0.12% and closed at 7,980.40.

Clarity Pharma led the gains with an increase of 4.48%, followed by Emerald Resources by 3.39% and Ebos Group Increase of 2.91%.

New Zealand S&P/NZD 50 fell by 0.52% to 12,662.11, with A2 Dairy company and suffered a significant loss of 18.89%.

Port of Tauranga And Serko Stock markets also recorded declines, by 4.1% and 3.66% respectively.

On the foreign exchange markets, the dollar was recently 1.01 percent weaker against the yen and was trading at 146.14 JPY.

The greenback also weakened against its counterparts in the antipodes. Against the Aussie it fell by 0.29 percent to 1.4952 AUD, and against the kiwi it lost 0.3 percent to 1.6469 NZD.

Oil prices recorded a slight decline, with Brent crude futures last falling 0.51%. ICE at 79.27 dollars per barrel and the NYMEX West Texas Intermediate fell 0.65% to $76.15.

Japan's nuclear machine orders decline, government prepares IPO of Tokyo Metro

In economic news, Japanese machinery core orders unexpectedly fell 1.7% in June compared to the same period last year, contrary to economists' forecast of a 1.8% increase.

The decline in machinery orders, an important indicator of capital spending, suggested a possible reluctance among companies to make future investments.

Elsewhere, it was reported that the Japanese government is pushing ahead with plans to list one of the capital's two largest subway operators, Tokyo Metro, on the stock exchange, with a targeted valuation of 700 billion yen.

According to ReutersBoth the national and Tokyo governments aimed to complete the initial public offering (IPO) by the end of October.

The IPO, in which half of the company's shares would be sold, would be the largest in Japan since 2018 and potentially raise JPY 350 billion.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.