Asian Markets Trading Mostly Lower

Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Monday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, amid lingering geopolitical concerns as the Ukrainian government and Russian state-controlled media continued to exchanged accusations of cease-fire violations in the eastern part of the country. Asian markets closed mostly lower on Friday.

News that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken have agreed to meet in Europe next week had eased concerns about an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine, but traders remain wary.

Uncertainty about the outlook for monetary policy also continued to weigh on the markets ahead of an anticipated interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve next month

The Australian stock market is slightly higher on Monday, recouping some of the sharp losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying above the 7,200 level, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, on data that showed domestic manufacturing expanded in February at a faster pace.

The market pulled back after early steep losses amid weak commodity prices and lingering geopolitical concerns due to the ongoing uncertainty created by fears that Russia will imminently invade Ukraine.

Traders also remain concerned over the domestic COVID-19 cases, though the daily new cases are on a steady decline. New South Wales reported 4,916 new cases and seven deaths on Sunday. Victoria also reported 5,611 new cases and three deaths, Queensland reported 4,114 new cases and six deaths, ACT reported 458 new cases and Tasmania reported 569 new cases.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 17.60 points or 0.24 percent to 7,239.30, after hitting a low of 7,156.30 and a high of 7,237.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 10.40 points or 0.14 percent to 7,513.20. Australian stocks closed sharply lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources is slipping almost 2 percent, OZ Minerals is declining more than 1 percent and Fortescue Metals is sliding more than 2 percent.

Oil stocks are mixed, with Beach energy edging down 0.3 percent and Santos is losing almost 1 percent, while Woodside Petroleum gaining almost 3 percent and Origin Energy is advancing more than 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Appen is losing more than 2 percent and Zip is plunging more than 5 percent, while WiseTech Global is declining 3.5 percent, Xero is down more than 3 percent and Block is sliding almost 9 percent.

Gold miners are higher. Evolution Mining is gaining almost 3 percent, Resolute Mining is advancing almost 1 percent and Northern Star Resources is adding almost 4 percent, while Gold Road Resources and Newcrest Mining are up almost 2 percent each.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are losing almost 1 percent each, while National Australia Bank is edging down 0.3 percent. Westpac is flat.

In other news, shares in AGL are soaring more than 11 percent after the Australian power company rejected a takeover bid from tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes and Canadian asset giant Brookfield.

Shares in A2 Milk are surging almost 9 percent despite the milk and infant formula maker reported a profit for the first-half that halved from last year as the company undertakes its new China strategy outlined in October.

In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Australia continued to expand in February, and at a faster pace, the latest survey from Markit Economics showed on Monday with a manufacturing PMI score of 57.6. That’s up from 55.1 in January, and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The survey also showed that the services PMI jumped to 56.4 in February from 46.6 in January, while the composite PMI improved to 55.9 from 46.7.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.721 on Monday.

The Japanese stock market is notably lower on Monday, extending the losses in the previous two sessions, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 27,000 mark, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, amid lingering geopolitical concerns due to the ongoing uncertainty created by fears that Russia will imminently invade Ukraine.

Traders also remain concerned about the domestic coronavirus cases, though the daily new cases are off record highs. Japanese government also officially decided over the weekend to extend its COVID-19 quasi-emergency designations for 17 prefectures for two more weeks until March 6.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 26,926.01, down 196.06 points or 0.72 percent, after hitting a low of 26,549.00 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly lower on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing almost 1 percent and Toyota is slipping more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing almost 2 percent, Tokyo Electron is declining more than 3 percent and Screen Holdings is down almost 3 percent. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are edging up 0.4 percent each, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is adding almost 2 percent.

The major exporters are lower, with Panasonic losing 1.5 percent, Mitsubishi Electric down almost 1 percent, Sony is declining more than 1 percent and Canon is edging down 0.4 percent.

Among the other major losers, Sharp is plunging almost 11 percent, while Sumitomo Heavy Industries and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha are slipping more than 6 percent each. Sumco is sliding more than 5 percent, while Nikon and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines are down more than 4 percent each. Showa Denko K.K., Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma and Shin-Etsu Chemical are down almost 4 percent each.

Conversely, Nexon is gaining more than 3 percent.

In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Japan continued to expand in February, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from Markit Economics showed on Monday with a manufacturing PMI score of 52.9. That’s down from 55.4 in January, although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The survey also showed that the services PMI tumbled to 42.7 in February from 47.6 in January, while the composite PMI slipped to 44.6 from 49.9.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 114 yen-range on Monday.

Elsewhere in Asia, , New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan are lower by between 0.1 and 0.7 percent, each. Indonesia is bucking the trend and is up 0.2 percent. Singapore is relatively flat.

On Wall Street, stocks fluctuated in the afternoon but still ended the day firmly negative after coming under pressure in morning trading on Friday. The major averages extended the steep drop seen on Thursday, with the Dow ending the session at its lowest closing level since early December.

The Dow and the S&P 500 briefly peeked above the unchanged in late-day trading, but moved lower going into the close. The Dow slid 232.85 points or 0.7 percent to 34,079.18, the Nasdaq tumbled 168.65 points or 1.2 percent to 13,548.07 and the S&P 500 fell 31.39 points or 0.7 percent to 4,348.87.

The major European markets all also moved to the downside over the course of the session. While the German DAX Index tumbled by 1.5 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index both dipped by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices drifted lower on Friday amid signs of negotiations to restore the Iran nuclear deal. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended lower by $0.69 or 0.36 percent at $91.07 a barrel. WTI futures shed 2.2 percent in the week.

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