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Shanghai Stocks at 7-Year Peak

Shanghai Stocks at 7-Year Peak
Shanghai Stocks at 7-Year Peak

China’s Shanghai Composite index clinched fresh seven-year peaks on Monday, outperforming the region which has largely seen a mixed performance, as a stronger-than-expected US nonfarm payrolls stoked concerns that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates soon.

On Friday, US stocks closed narrowly mixed as investors eyed developments in Greece and weighed a bond yield rally on a strong jobs report, which supports the case for a rate hike this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 eased 0.3 and 0.1 percent, respectively, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq inched up 0.2 percent, Reuters reported.

Shares in Shanghai rewrote their highest levels since January 2008, after slipping briefly into the red earlier in the day, as traders interpreted the mixed bag of trade data as impetus for further policy easing.

The mainland’s yuan-denominated imports tumbled 17.9 percent in May from a year earlier, while exports fell by a smaller-than-expected 2.5 percent. This translated into a monthly trade surplus of 366.8 billion yuan ($59.49 billion), which is close to the record $60.5 billion surplus recorded in February, when numbers were distorted by the Chinese New Year.

“It remains the view that bad news is good news. Every number we saw from China that has shown weakness has led to accommodation from the People’s bank of China or some other means,” Stephen Davies, CEO of Javelin Wealth Management, told CNBC. “It’s been a rollercoaster ride and i don’t think we are in touch with fundamentals so we getting a bit more cautious on valuations.”

Also helping to support the bourse was expectations for China ‘A’ shares to be included in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, which MSCI will announce tomorrow. Blue-chips such as banking stocks, which are seen to be largest beneficiaries if the inclusion comes true, were on a tear on Monday.

Bank of China and Bank of Communications leaped by the daily limit of 10 percent each, while Agricultural Bank of China jumped 7.3 percent.China Construction Bank and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China(ICBC) jumped more than 6 percent each.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index pared earlier losses to edge up 0.3 percent.

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 Nikkei Flat

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index finished near the previous close, as a retreat in dollar-yen offset the impact of upbeat growth data. The currency pair was last quoted at 125.4, with the yen gaining ground of around 0.1 percent against the greenback.

Released before the market open, revised government data showed revised first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) expanded an annualized 3.9 percent, much higher than the preliminary reading of a 2.4 percent increase. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the economy grew 1 percent, higher than the preliminary reading of 0.6 percent, signaling the country’s growth recovery.

Meanwhile, Japan’s current account balance for April came in at 1.3 trillion yen, down from 2.9 trillion yen in the previous month.

As a result, export-oriented stocks were mixed. Blue-chip Toyota Motor and Nissan sold down 1.3 and 0.5 percent, respectively, while Sony and Panasonic lost more than 1 percent each.

Decliners also included airline and power plays, likely due to higher energy prices from last week. Japan Airlines and Tokyo Electric Power closed down 1.8 and 2.8 percent, respectively.

 

Financialtribune.com