TOKYO (AP) – Shares were mostly higher in Asia on Monday, although Japan’s Nikkei 225 benchmark fell as tensions over North Korea kept the yen strong against the dollar.
KEEPING SCORE: Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index dipped 0.8 percent to 19,564.98 on selling of shares in export manufacturers whose profits would be hurt by a stronger yen. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index jumped 1.2 percent to 27,198.59 and Australia’s S&P ASX 200 surged 0.6 percent to 5,729.70. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.6 percent to 2,333.64 and the Shanghai Composite index advanced 0.4 percent to 3,221.27. Shares in Southeast Asia were mostly higher.
ANALYST’S TAKE: “Asian markets are poised to retrace some of last week’s losses at the start of the week with jitters within equity markets appearing to have declined over the weekend. Early movers in the region including the South Korean and Taiwan markets had both opened with moderate gains,” Jingyi Pan of IG said in a commentary.
JAPAN GROWTH STORY: Japan’s economy grew at a hearty 4.0 percent annual pace in the April-June quarter, helped by stronger consumer spending and corporate capital investment. The numbers, the fastest quarterly expansion in over two years, were better than forecast and represented the sixth straight quarter of growth. The economy expanded at a revised 1.5 percent annual pace in January-March.
NORTH KOREA: Senior U.S. national security officials said Sunday that a military confrontation with North Korea’s is not imminent, but they cautioned that the possibility of war is greater than it was a decade ago. China’s president appealed for cool-headedness in a phone conversation with Trump on Saturday, urging both sides to avoid words or actions that could worsen the situation. That followed fresh threats against North Korea on Friday, when Trump declared the U.S. military was “locked and loaded” and warned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that he “will regret it fast” if he takes any action against U.S. territories or allies.