Yahoo Finance Asian Stocks Mixed; Brexit Deal, Energy Stocks in Focus
Investing.com - Asian stocks were mixed in morning trade on Monday, with energy stocks under-performing after oil prices plunged to their lowest levels in more than a year last week.
Santos Ltd (AX:STO) fell 4.7%, PetroChina Co Ltd Class H (HK:0857) slid 0.7%, and Woodside Petroleum Ltd (AX:WPL) was down 2.3%. Oil prices saw a seven-week-sell-off while crude futures traded in bear market territory amid growing worries of an oversupply.
Australia’s ASX 200 slipped 0.8% by 1:36 PM ET (06:36 GMT).
Major miners declined amid worries over weaker demand from China, the largest consumer of metals.
Rio Tinto Ltd (AX:RIO) fell 3% while Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (AX:FMG) declined 1.5%. BHP Billiton Ltd (AX:BHP) also dropped 3%.
“I heard some Chinese investors are shooting (down) the nickel price. They think nickel production in Indonesia will bring the market into surplus next year, and demand for stainless will be bad,” CRU analyst Peter Peng said, adding that they expected the nickel price to fall to about $8,000.
China’s Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component slipped 0.4% and 0.6% respectively. All eyes this week would be on U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping’s planned meeting at the G-20 meeting that kicks off on Friday.
Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was up 1.4%.
Chinese travel website Tongcheng-Elong Holdings Ltd (HK:0780) opened at HK$10.78 per share on Monday in its first day of trading, up 10% from its IPO price at HK$9.8.
Tongcheng-Elong's strong debut was a rare case amid a sluggish IPO market in Hong Kong this year. Ten of the most popular new stocks dropped 36% on average from their IPO prices, according to Bloomberg.
Funded by tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd (HK:0700), the Chinese travel agent bagged a total of $180 million from an IPO in Hong Kong last Friday, much lower than the $1 billion that was originally touted.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.8% as data showed the country’s the Flash Markit/Nikkei Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to a seasonally adjusted 51.8 in November from a final 52.9 in October.
Mitsubishi Motors Corp's received some focus as its board meets on Monday to remove Carlos Ghosn from his role as chairman after his arrest amid alleged financial misconduct.
Elsewhere, South Korea’s KOSPI traded 1.2% higher.
Looking ahead, Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida speaks in New York on Tuesday, and Chairman Jerome Powell addresses the New York Economic Club on Wednesday.
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