Asian Markets Trade Mostly Lower

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Monday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, as traders react to the surprise downgrade of the US government's credit rating by one notch to Aa1 from Aaa by Moody's Ratings, being the last of the three major credit rating agencies to downgrade it. They also react to China announcing anti-dumping duties on plastics from the U.S., EU, Japan and Taiwan. Asian markets closed mostly lower on Friday.

The Australian stock market is slightly lower on Monday, snapping an eight-session winning streak, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is falling to near the 8,300.00 level, with weakness in iron ore miners, technology and financial stocks partially offset by gains in gold miners.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 6.70 points or 0.08 percent to 8,337.00, after hitting a low of 8,301.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 10.80 points or 0.13 percent to 8,569.10. Australian stocks closed notably higher on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group, Fortescue Metals and Rio Tinto are losing almost 2 percent each, while Mineral Resources is declining almost 5 percent.

Oil stocks are mixed. Woodside Energy and Origin Energy are edging up 0.3 percent each, while Santos and Beach energy are edging down 0.4 percent each.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 2 percent, while WiseTech Global is edging down 0.2 percent, Zip are losing more than 2 percent and Appen is sliding more than 6 percent. Xero is flat.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining and Resolute Mining are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Northern Star Resources is adding more than 1 percent, Newmont is advancing more than 4 percent and Gold Road Resources is up almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is edging up 0.5 percent, while National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are losing almost 1 percent each.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.642 on Monday.

The Japanese stock market is trading modesty lower on Monday, extending the losses in the previous three sessions, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, with the Nikkei 225 falling to near the 37,600 level, with a mixed performance across most sectors.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 37,617.63, down 136.09 points or 0.36 percent, after hitting a low of 37,500.11 earlier. Japanese shares ended slightly lower on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is down almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is adding almost 1 percent and Toyota is gaining almost 2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing almost 1 percent, while Tokyo Electron is gaining almost 2 percent and Screen Holdings is edging up 0.4 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging up 0.5 percent, while Mizuho Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are edging down 0.4 percent each.

The major exporters are mixed. Panasonic and Mitsubishi Electric are edging up 0.4 percent each, while Sony and Canon are edging down 0.3 to 0.4 percent each.

Among the other major losers, NEXON, Dentsu Group, Idemitsu Kosan and Taiyo Yuden are losing almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Daiichi Sankyo is surging more than 5 percent, Konica Minolta is gaining almost 5 percent and Mitsubishi Estate is adding almost 4 percent, while Sapporo Holdings and Resonac Holdings are advancing more than 3 percent each. Suzuki Motor, Rakuten Group, Kyowa Kirin and Subaru are up almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 145 yen-range on Monday.

Elsewhere in Asia, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan are lower by between 0.2 and 0.9 percent each. Indonesia is bucking the trend and is up 0.4 percent.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading session on Friday after initially showing a lack of direction. The major averages all climbed firmly into positive territory after closing mixed for two straight sessions.

The major averages ended the day near their highs of the session. The Dow advanced 331.99 points or 0.8 percent to 42,654.74, the S&P 500 climbed 41.45 points or 0.7 percent to 5,958.38 and the Nasdaq rose 98.78 points or 0.5 percent to 19,211.10.

The major European have all also moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index rose by 0.4 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices showed a strong move to the upside on Friday amid optimism about U.S. trade policies. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery jumped $0.87 or 1.4 percent to $62.49 a barrel. For the week, the price of crude oil surged 2.4 percent.