Chachamaru
Asia-Pacific stock markets were mixed on Monday after a surge on Wall Street on Friday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's speech in Jackson Hole suggested the central bank may start cutting interest rates as soon as September.
Markets were also closely monitoring geopolitical developments in the Middle East after Hezbollah launched missile attacks on Israel over the weekend in retaliation for the assassination of a senior Israeli official in Beirut last month.
Japan (NKY:IND) -0.94% : The Nikkei stock average fell and the Topix index also fell on Monday as investors continued to assess the outlook for the Bank of Japan's monetary policy.
The Japanese yen rose to a three-week high above 144 yen to the dollar as hawkish comments from Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda contrasted with a more dovish stance from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
China (SHCOMP), +0.05% The Shanghai Composite Index is struggling to find clear direction as investors continue to assess China’s economic prospects.
Domestically, the People's Bank of China injected RMB300 billion through the one-year MLF and kept interest rates at 2.30% after a 20 basis point cut in July.
Meanwhile, traders are keeping an eye on China's PMI data due to be released this week for a clearer picture of the country's economic situation.
Hong Kong (HSI), +1.16%: Hong Kong stocks rose at the open on Monday after slipping slightly in the previous trading session.
India (SENSEX), +0.76%. Indian stocks rose in early trade on Monday after trading flat the previous day.
India's inflation rate eased to 3.54%, the lowest since August 2019, due to lower food prices.
Australia (AS51), +0.76%: The S&P/ASX 200 index rose to a three-week high, led by commodity and financial stocks.
Investors will be focusing on Australia's monthly consumer price index this week to gauge the direction of the country's monetary policy.
In the US, all three major indexes closed higher on Friday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell signalled that an interest rate cut was imminent. Powell expressed confidence that inflation would return to the central bank's 2% target, assuring markets that he was balancing risks to the labour market.
U.S. stock futures were little changed on Monday as investors looked for new catalysts to return the indexes to their all-time highs, with the Dow at -0.04%, the S&P 500 at -0.06% and the Nasdaq at -0.05%.
Currency: (JPY:USD), (CNY:USD), (AUD:USD), (INR:USD), (HKD:USD), (NZD:USD).
