Stock Quotes: Asia Calms on China Data, Brexit
STOCK QUOTES – On Monday, Asian markets calmed amid Chinese data showed a slowdown in the country’s economy last year. Further, it highlighted immediacy in the country’s need to have additional stimulus amid its trade battle with the United States.
Moreover, investors have also focused their attention on the possible announcement of British Prime Minister Theresa May’s ‘Plan B’ for Brexit. There are expectations that the plan will be presented to parliament on Monday.
China, being the second-largest economy in the world, made a 6.4% growth in the fourth quarter last 2018. This record had been expected and found at similar levels during the global financial crisis in 2009.
Further, there were a few positive aspects that unexpectedly achieved such as the strong 5.7% increase in the industrial output. The December’s retail sales last year also surged 8.2%.
“Policymakers appear to be weighing up the medium-term risks of further debt growth against short term trends – hence the relatively modest stimulatory policy thus far. They may be data dependent for a couple of quarters to make any large move,” said NAB Senior Economist Gerard Bung.
The MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan hit a 0.2% increase, following its 1.6% increase last week.
Meanwhile, there was an increase of 0.7% in the Chinese blue chips. Japan’s Nikkei gained 0.3% with the help of a recent pullback in the yen. Frequently utilized as a liquid proxy for China investments, the Australian dollar pushed higher to $0.7167.
On Friday, the Chinese stocks rallied amid the reports about a statement from U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Based on reports, Mnuchin had in talks to increase some or all tariffs imposed on Chinese imports, but he denied the story later.
Stock Quotes: Australia stocks hit higher; S&P/ASX 200 surges 0.18%
On Monday, Australia stocks hit higher at the trade close. Further, this was amid the gains in sectors such as Consumer Discretionary, Consumer Staples and Telecom Services that lifted the shares higher.
The S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.18% at the Sydney close, reaching new one-month high.
During the S&P/ASX 200 session, the best performers were Pact Group Holdings Ltd, TPG Telecom Ltd, and Ausdrill Ltd. The Pact Group Holdings increased 6.91% or 0.250 points to end at 3.870 at the close. On one hand, TPG Telecom Ltd surged 4.80% or 0.330 points to end at 7.200. Ausdrill Ltd, on the other hand, climbed 4.62% or 0.060 points to 1.360 in late trade.
Meanwhile, the worst performers were Sims Metal Management Ltd, Afterpay Touch Group Ltd, and St Barbara Ltd.
Based on the Sydney Stock Exchange, the number of increasing stocks surpassed the decreasing ones by 586 to 526 and 352 ended unchanged.
Measuring the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200, the S&P/ASX 200 VIX climbed 3.82% to 12.727.
