Investing.com – Asian equities launched the week mixed, with Japan, South Korean, Hong Kong and Chinese equities moving lower at or shortly after the open and Australian equities moving a higher.
Earnings season is ramping up this week and there will much economic data in Japan for investors to chew on, including PMI data and the Bank of Japan’s latest policy decision on Friday.
Trade tensions between China and the US are still in focus but there were suggestions that some geopolitical tensions related to North Korea may continue to ease. On Friday, North Korea’s ruler Kim Jong Un suggested he might be open to suspending nuclear tests.
Investors in Asia are also looking at a solid earning season in the US, where more than four-fifths of companies listed on the S&P500 that had reported earnings by Friday beating expectations.
But any cues from the US were not overly optimistic. On Friday, the Dow closed down 0.82%, the S&P 500 lost 0.85% and the Nasdaq dropped 1.27% as technology stocks continued to feel downward pressure.
Some focus Monday was likely to be on technology stocks. On Friday, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) took a hit in US trading, falling 4.1%, and last week Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TWO:5425), Apple’s main chip supplier, slumped as much as 7% after it trimmed its full year revenue target. TSMC’s miss was the big news for investors in Asia on Friday.
Investors were also keeping an eye on a move up in yields of US Treasuries, a move that helped support the US dollar. Yields on 10-Year Treasures inched up on Friday to 2.96%, the highest level since January 2014.
Hong Kong shares are coming off their fourth weekly loss in five weeks. Investors are worried about the prospects for increased trade tension between China and the U.S. Last week, the Hang Seng Index fell 1.3%. The Hang Seng Index was down 0.11% to 30,385 at 9:35PM ET (01:35 GMT).
Japan’s Nikkei 225 edged up at the opening but was down 0.18% by 9:30PM ET (01:30 GMT). Data out on Friday showed the core consumer price index rose 0.9% year-on-year in March, a slight slowdown from a 1.0% gain in February but matching economist’s median estimates.
The South Korea Kospiwas vdown 0.24% to 2470.82 at 9:30PM ET (01:30 GMT). Australia’s ASX was up 0.27% at 5884.6.
Chinese stocks were also coming off their worst week in a month, with the Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 falling 1.3% on Friday and the market was poised for further drops on Monday. It was down 0.16% as of 9:30PM ET (01:30 GMT).