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Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed Monday, tracking U.S. stocks futures that were lower ahead of key economic data, with escalating trade tensions denting investor sentiment.
U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters Sunday that he was planning to announce a blanket 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports on Monday, according to Reuters.
Over in Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 started the day lower, but reversed course to gain 0.13%, while the broader Topix index fell 0.12%.
The country reported loan growth of 3% year on year in January, falling slightly from December’s 3.1%.
South Korea’s indexes also opened lower, with the Kospi down 0.17% while the small-cap Kosdaq changed course to advance 0.36%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was trading down 0.31%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index started the day up 0.89%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 Index opened flat.
Consumer inflation in China rose for the first time since August 2024, on the back of higher spending in the lead up to the Lunar New Year, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Sunday revealed. The consumer price index rose 0.7% month on month and 0.5% annually in January — more than Reuters’ 0.4% estimate.
Meanwhile, its producer price index, which captures the wholesale price of goods, fell 2.3% from the previous year in January, more than the 2.1% drop expected by Reuters.
Investors will also be keeping an eye on Indian stocks that fell Friday, after the Reserve Bank of India expectedly cut interest rates for the first time in five years.
Singapore’s benchmark Straits Times Index hit an all-time high of 3,910.12 points, LSEG data showed, led by gains in the shares of telecommunications operator Singapore Telecommunications and well as local banks DBS Group Holdings, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation and United Overseas Bank.
The STI benchmark was last up 0.83%.
The three key U.S. indexes fell Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump’s said he was planning reciprocal tariffs on trading partners. Markets were further pressured by the release of consumer sentiment and jobs data which pointed to a pickup in inflation and spiked the 10-year Treasury yield above 4.5% at its session high.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 444.23 points, or 0.99%, to close at 44,303.40. The S&P 500 declined 0.95% to 6,025.99, and the Nasdaq Composite slid 1.36% to end at 19,523.40. Friday’s losses left the major averages in negative territory on the week.
— CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Hakyung Kim contributed to this report.
