Asia-Pacific markets showed a mixed performance on Monday as investors weighed China’s commitments to support domestic businesses and the latest developments in trade negotiations between the US and countries in the region.
Over the weekend, China’s Finance Minister Lan Fo’an announced that the government would “adopt more proactive macroeconomic policies” to help meet the country’s growth targets for the year and continue to contribute to global economic stability. This statement was made available through a Google translation of a release on the Ministry of Finance’s website.
In mainland China, the CSI 300 index remained flat during the final hour of trading, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index saw a modest rise of 0.36%, navigating through volatile trade conditions.
India’s stock markets performed positively, with the Nifty 50 index climbing 1.18% and the broader BSE Sensex gaining 1.08%.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 ended the day up by 0.38%, closing at 35,839.99, while the broader Topix index rose 0.86%, reaching 2,650.61.
South Korea’s Kospi index gained 0.1% to finish at 2,548.86, although the small-cap Kosdaq index dropped 1.41% to close at 719.41.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.36%, ending at 7,997.10.
Market participants are also focused on the ongoing trade discussions between the US and regional nations, particularly after US President Donald Trump signaled that a further pause in his “reciprocal tariffs” was unlikely, according to reports from Bloomberg.
In the US, futures markets were slightly lower ahead of a busy earnings week, despite all three major indices posting gains last week. The S&P 500 finished Friday’s session 0.74% higher at 5,525.21, while the Nasdaq Composite rose by 1.26% to 17,282.94. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lagged behind but still managed a marginal gain of 0.05%, closing at 40,113.50.
