Asian Market Review

Asian markets are mostly higher, but also little changed for a second day as investors seem uncertain what direction to take given the mixed messages coming from central banks and the actual economic data points. Overnight gains from Europe and Wall Street are helping lift sentiment, but the ongoing trade war has dampened risk appetite.

In Japan the Nikkei trades up by 0.4% as the Yen remains stuck in a tight trading range versus the U.S. dollar. Shares of Sony are trading 1.4% lower as their spat with Disney is threatening the co-production of Spiderman movies, which could severely limit future profits from the franchise.

In Australia the S&P/ASX 200 is leading gains for the region, rising 0.5% as the afternoon session is heading into the close. Miners BHP and Rio Tinto are higher by 0.6% and 1.1% respectively. And oil stocks are also adding to the gains, with Woodside Petroleum up 0.8%, Oil Search gaining 0.4%, and Beach Energy soaring 5.1% higher.

Mainland China is also experiencing gains at the open, with both the Shanghai Composite and smaller Shenzhen Composite 0.3% higher. In Hong Kong the Hang Seng is hanging onto a slight gain, but is also facing another day of protests that could sink the market later.

South Korea’s Kospi is bucking the rising trend with a loss of less than 0.1%, and in Taiwan the Taiex is 0.7% higher.

Southeast Asian markets are also gaining, with the Straits Times in Singapore trading 0.4% higher, and Malaysia’s KLCI edging up by less than 0.1%.