Asian Market Review - First Place Finance - Mixed market results

The investor enthusiasm created by stimulus hopes, and positive trade developments on Monday has mostly faded Tuesday morning in Asia, with markets trading mostly higher, but little changed, even after Wall Street made excellent gains overnight.

In Japan the Nikkei is trading up by 0.3%, off its opening high of 0.5%. but it continued to climb - 

Shares of Sony are helping as they trade 0.9% higher, but convenience store operator Family Mart is holding the index back with a loss of 3.1%.

In Australia the S&P/ASX 200 is trading up by 0.5%, gaining momentum in the late afternoon. Energy shares are helping, with Woodside Petroleum gaining 1% and Oil Search up by 0.5%. Banks are mixed today, with losses as much as 0.3% and gains as much as 0.6%.

Mainland China has seen its markets open mixed, despite yesterday’s positive news regarding lower lending costs for Chinese businesses. The Shanghai Composite has a 0.2% loss in early trade, but the smaller cap Shenzhen Composite has moved in the opposite direction and is holding a 0.5% gain. In Hong Kong the Hang Seng is once again being pressured by protests and trades down by 0.5% at the open.

South Korea’s Kospi is flat with a loss of less than 0.1%, although SK Hynix is trading 0.4% higher. In Taiwan the Taiex is up by just 0.1% as it has dropped from its opening highs.

Southeast Asian markets are trying to make gains, with the KLCI in Malaysia up by 0.2%, while Singapore’s Straits Times has a gain of less than 0.1% after opening in negative territory.