HAIAN, CHINA – JANUARY 24, 2024 – A staff member of the personal finance business area of a bank counts and arranges the RMB deposited by customers in the daily account in Haian city, Jiangsu province, China, Jan 24, 2024. (Photo credit should read CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
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Asia-Pacific markets were mixed Monday as traders assessed China’s loan prime rate announcement, with focus also on Japan’s general election at the end of this week.
China’s central bank cut the one- and five-year LPRs by 25 basis points to 3.1% and 3.6%, respectively.
This has been indicated by the People’s Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng on Friday.
ING in a note last week also said that the PBOC was likely to release its rate decision for the medium term lending facility on Friday, although it is expected to be left unchanged at 2% after being reduced by 30 basis points last month.
“Data aside, it is worth monitoring if there are potential further government ministry briefings or a potential announcement of the timing for the National People’s Congress meeting in the week ahead, as stimulus rollout remains a major theme for markets,” ING said.
Other key economic data this week will include October inflation figures for Japan’s capital city of Tokyo, as well as advance third-quarter GDP figures from South Korea.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 was trading close to the flatline, while the broad based Topix was 0.17% lower.
South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.83% and the small-cap Kosdaq jumped 1.05%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 started the day up 0.64%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 0.14%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 rose 0.19%.
In the U.S., both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged to record highs Friday, sealing six straight weeks of gains.
The broad market benchmark advanced 0.40% to close at 5,864.67, while the blue-chip Dow gained 36.86 points, or 0.09%, to end at 43,275.91.
The Nasdaq Composite, led by a postearnings jump in Netflix, ended the day up 0.63% at 18,489.55.
— CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Alex Harring contributed to this report.