HONG KONG (AP) – Asian stocks were mixed Monday after investors found no surprises from last week’s key meeting of central bankers while gasoline futures spiked after Tropical Storm Harvey battered Texas’ refinery-rich Gulf Coast.
KEEPING SCORE: Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.1 percent to 19,430.65 and South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.4 percent to 2,369.29. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 0.7 percent to 28,038.48 and the Shanghai Composite in mainland China shot up nearly 1 percent to 3,363.80. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.7 percent to 5,703.50.
STORMY WEATHER: Incessant rain from Harvey, which slammed ashore as a strong hurricane late last week, has submerged much of Houston and shut down Texas’s oil and gas industry. It’s unclear how bad the damage to facilities along the state’s Gulf Coast but preliminary signs indicate widespread losses, which will have big implications for the U.S. economy and oil and gas prices. Gasoline futures spiked in trading. S&P Global analysts said about 2.2 million barrels per day of refining capacity were down or being brought down by Sunday.
NO SURPRISES: The gatherings of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, was last week’s big economic event but investors found no surprises in speeches by Fed chief Janet Yellen and European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi. There was nothing to change investors’ expectations that the Fed will continue to gradually raise interest rates and prepare to trim its $4.5 billion balance sheet.
MORE MISSILES: North Korea fired three more missiles over the weekend while South Korea pressed on with military drills involving U.S. troops. The latest moves renewed concerns about tension on the Korean Peninsula, though the fallout in stock market trading in Seoul appeared to be limited.