First place finance - Asian market review - 08.08.2019

Asian markets began Thursday mixed, but have turned higher following Chinese trade data, which came in better than expected and calmed investors who were expecting to see solid signs that the trade war is hurting the Chinese economy. Instead it appears that the Chinese economy is moving along at a good pace as exports rose 3.3% versus expectations of a 2% decline.

Mainland China’s Shanghai Composite is trading 0.6% higher following the trade data, while the smaller cap Shenzhen Composite has a gain of 0.5%. In Hong Kong the Hang Seng has a 0.4% gain as protestors have remained quiet for most of this week.

Japan’s Nikkei began modestly higher and has continued to make gains, trading up by 0.6% heading into the lunch break. Shares of Fast Retailing are up 1.1%, and Softbank has a 0.8% gain, but oil exploration company Inpex is down 1.1% after crude’s overnight losses.

In Australia the S&P/ASX 200 trades modestly higher by 0.1%. Miners are making strong gains, with BHP up 0.9%, and Rio Tinto jumping 3% higher. Fortescue Metals is also 2.8% higher, and gold miner Newcrest Mining has a 2.4% gain. Those gains are being offset by losses of 0.2% to 0.7% from the big four banks.

In South Korea the Kospi has a gain of 0.8% to lead the Asian region, while Taiwan’s Taiex is also up by 0.8%.

Southeast Asian markets are surprisingly mixed as the Straits Times in Singapore is down 0.5%, while the Jakarta Composite in Indonesia has a 0.5% gain and the KLCI in Malaysia is 0.3% higher.