Asian Markets A Sea Of Red

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Monday, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, as traders react to the smaller than expected size of China's fresh stimulus measures and the release of weak inflation data over the weekend that spurred new concerns over the recovery in the world's second-largest economy. Hong Kong market plunges almost 3 percent. Asian markets closed mixed on Friday.

The Australian stock market is trading notably lower on Monday, reversing some of the gains in the previous three sessions, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is falling well below the 8,300.00 level, with weakness in iron ore miners and energy stocks amid tumbling prices of underlying commodities, partially offset by gains in gold miners and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 35.30 points or 0.43 percent to 8,259.80, after hitting a low of 8,251.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 38.30 points or 0.45 percent to 8,514.30. Australian stocks closed significantly higher on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are losing almost 4 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is slipping almost 5 percent and Mineral Resources is declining more than 3 percent. Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy is declining more than 1 percent, while Woodside Energy and Santos are losing almost 1 percent each. Origin Energy is edging up 0.2 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 1 percent, Appen is advancing almost 3 percent, Xero is up almost 1 percent, WiseTech Global is adding almost 2 percent and Zip is rising 4.5 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining and Gold Road Resources are edging up 0.3 to 0.4 percent each, Northern Star Resources is gaining more than 2 percent and Newmont is adding more than 1 percent, while Resolute Mining is plummeting almost 28 percent after it confirmed that chief executive Terry Holohan has been detained by the military-controlled government of Mali in West Africa to discuss business practices.

Among the big four banks, and National Australia Bank and ANZ Banking are edging up 0.2 to 0.3 percent each, while Westpac is losing almost 1 percent. Commonwealth Bank is flat.

In other news, shares in Endeavour Group are sliding more than 5 percent after Dan Murphy's and BWS parent warned of lower profit in the second half amid flat sales in its stores and higher promotions.

Shares in Novonix are skyrocketing more than 11 percent after signing a supply deal with automotive company Stellantis to supply high-performance synthetic graphite for its North American battery production partners.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.659 on Monday.

The Japanese stock market is trading modestly lower on Monday, reversng to the gains in the previous session. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling well above the 39,400 level, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, with weakness across most sectors led by index heavyweights, financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 39,347.79, down 152.58 or 0.39 percent, after hitting a low of 39,315.61 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly higher on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.4 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing more than 1 percent, while Toyota is flat.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is losing more than 1 percent and Tokyo Electron is declining more than 1 percent, while Advantest is edging up 0.5 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are losing almost 1 percent each.

The major exporters are mostly higher. Panasonic is gaining more than 4 percent and Sony is surging more than 6 percent each, while Canon and Mitsubishi Electric are edging down 0.1 to 0.2 percent each.

Among other major losers, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Socionext are slipping more than 5 percent each, while Sumco, Nissan Motor and Kubota is losing almost 5 percent each. Secom is down more than 4 percent, while Hitachi Construction Machinery and Shiseido are declining almost 4 percent each. Mitsui Fudosan, Ajinomoto, Ricoh, Olympus, Taisei, Mitsubishi Materials and Daikin Industries are sliding more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, Furukawa Electric is skyrocketing almost 15 percent, DeNA is soaring almost 14 percent, Fujikura is surging more than 7 percent and Suzuki Motor is gaining more than 6 percent, while Sumitomo Electric Industries and Nissui are adding more than 3 percent each. Terumo is up almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 153 yen-range on Monday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong is down 2.7 percent, while New Zealand, China, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan are lower by between 0.1 and 1.0 percent each.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Friday extending the substantial rally seen over the past few sessions. With the continued upward move, the major averages all reached new record closing highs.

The major averages pulled back off their best levels going into the close but remained in positive territory. The Dow climbed 259.65 points or 0.6 percent to 43,988.99, the Nasdaq inched up 17.32 points or 0.1 percent to 19,286.78 and the S&P 500 rose 22.44 points or 0.4 percent to 5,995.54.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index tumbled by 1.2percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index both slide by 0.8 percent.

Crude oil prices fell sharply Friday on concerns about the outlook for demand due to data showing a drop in China's oil imports, and disappointment over the size of China's fresh stimulus measures. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December sank $1.98 or 2.7 percent at $70.38 a barrel; the contract gained 1 percent in the week.