Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed Monday after Wall Street gained Friday stateside, as investors assessed China’s key lending rate decision.
China’s CSI 300 opened flat after its central bank kept the loan prime rates (LPR) unchanged for the fourth month in a row, in line with a Reuters poll. The decision to stand pat comes after the U.S. Federal Reserve lowered its rates by 25 basis points last week.
The People’s Bank of China kept the one-year LPR unchanged at 3.0% while the five-year LPR remained at 3.5%, according to a statement Monday. The one-year LPR influences most new and outstanding loans, while the five-year rate influences the pricing of mortgages.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1%, while the Hang Seng Tech Index declined 1.18%.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 1.28%, while the Topix index advanced 0.8%. The 10-year Japanese Government Bonds rose 0.67% to 1.650, the highest level since July 2007.
South Korea’s Kospi index added 0.71%, while the small-cap Kosdaq was 0.9% higher. Shares of Samsung Electronics jumped over 4% on local media reports that Nvidia had approved the South Korean chipmaker’s fifth-generation high-bandwidth-memory product. The approval reportedly came after several failed attempts spanning almost 18 months to meet Nvidia’s demanding performance standards.
Australia’s ASX/S&P 200 increased 0.49%.
India’s benchmark Nifty 50 started the trading session down 0.12%, while the Sensex index fell 0.48%.
Shares of Adani Power skyrocketed over 15% after its five-for-one stock split took effect Monday. The Indian thermal power firm said that its shareholders had approved the split of one share of the company with a face value of 10 Indian rupees (about $0.11), into five shares at two rupees each, according to a filing earlier this month.
Companies typically split stocks to make them more accessible to investors, which also increases the firm’s liquidity.
U.S. equity futures were little changed in Asian hours following a strong week for the major averages. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 closed at fresh all-time highs as the Fed’s rate cut set in investors’ minds.
Markets are now pricing in two more quarter-point cuts between now and the end of the year, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
On Friday stateside, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 172.85 points, or 0.37%, to close at 46,315.27, reaching a fresh record high. The S&P 500 settled up 0.49% at 6,664.36, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.72% to finish at 22,631.48.
— CNBC’s Anniek Bao, Sarah Min, Pia Singh and Alex Harring contributed to this report.
