Investing.com - Shares in Sydney, Shanghai and Tokyo shrugged off weak Chinese trade data and gained on Monday with investors focused on the scope for continued easy monetary policies in the region.
The Shanghai Composite gained 3.20% at the break while the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.31% and the Nikkei 225 wasup 0.11%. The Hang Seng indes however fell 0.30%.
At the weekend, China said its trade balance reached a surplus of $43.03 billion, below expectations while exports fell 8.3% in dollar terms and imports dipped 8.1% in July.
As well, China said consumer prices in July gained 1.6% year-on-year, meeting expectations, while producer prices eased 5.4%, more than expected.
The mixed data is sure to raise questions about the next step for the People's Bank of China should inflationary pressure be stirring. But it's the threat of capital outflows, with the Federal Reserve looming in the background, which complicates the government's options and makes the central bank's fight to hold the line on policy the more difficult.
Ealier on Monday, Japan reported an unadjusted June current account surplus of ¥559 billion, narrower than the ¥774 billion seen, with the adjusted at Y.130 trillion, also narrower than the ¥1.41 trillion expected.
Separately, bank lending in Japan for July rose 2.6%, a tick above the 2.5% expected.
Last week, U.S. stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Oil & Gas, Basic Materials and Industrials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.27% to hit a new 6-months low, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.29%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.43%.
On Friday a solid U.S. employment report for July did not lift markets.
The Labor Department reported that the U.S. economy added 215,000 jobs last month, slightly lower than forecasts for an increase of 223,000, but still consistent with strong employment growth.
The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.3%, in line with expectations.
Hourly earnings, a component of the jobs report that the Federal Reserve has said must rise, ticked up 0.2%, also matching forecasts after stalling in the previous month.
The data was seen as reinforcing expectations for higher U.S. interest rates.
In the week ahead, investors will be looking to Thursday’s U.S. retail sales data for a further indication on the durability of the economic recovery.
Elsewhere, the euro zone is to publish a flash estimate of second quarter economic growth on Friday.
On Monday, Federal Reserve Governor Stanley Fischer and Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart are to speak; their comments will be closely watched.