Investing.com - Most Asian stocks traded higher during Tuesday’s despite another Chinese data point that was neither spectacular nor too concerning.
In Asian trading Tuesday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.21%. Earlier Tuesday, Ministry of Finance data showed Japan’s current account surplus plunged 63.7% on a year-over-year basis.
The surplus was JPY161.5 billion, well below estimates calling for a surplus of JPY540.9 billion. Economists expected Japan’s current account surplus to rise 23.4%. The surplus was the lowest for any August since at least 1985, Bloomberg reported.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 0.97% while the Shanghai Composite added 0.5%. The Markit/HSBC services PMI for September fell to 52.4 from 52.8 in August. Readings above 50 indicate expansion. Services-related entities are the biggest employers in China, the world’s second-largest economy.
Retailers and real estate firms helped lift stocks in Shanghai while retailers and telecom shares were among the leaders in Hong Kong.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 0.3%. The country’s business confidence index climbed to 12 from 4, according to a National Australia Bank.
New Zealand’s NZSE 50 fell 0.37% even after the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research said its gauge of business confidence for the third quarter rose to 38 from 32 in the prior quarter, good for a 14-year high. On seasonally adjusted basis, the reading was 32 up from 30, the best reading since early 2010.
An impasse among U.S. lawmakers and the White House over terms needed to create a spending package and reopen the government sent investors avoiding the dollar on Monday.
Market participants are growing increasingly worried that the Congressional stalemate risks going through October 17, the day Congress must raise the U.S. debt ceiling. The U.S. has never failed to raise the debt ceiling and by not doing so, risks the first ever default on its sovereign debt obligations. Moody’s Investors Service has said a U.S. default is unlikely.
Republican leadership is demanding the White House get tough on spending cuts, President Obama and Senate Democrats appear no more in the mood for compromise than their Republican counterparts.
South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.21% while Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 0.39%. S&P 500 futures shed 0.11% a day after the benchmark U.S. index slid 0.85%.
In Asian trading Tuesday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.21%. Earlier Tuesday, Ministry of Finance data showed Japan’s current account surplus plunged 63.7% on a year-over-year basis.
The surplus was JPY161.5 billion, well below estimates calling for a surplus of JPY540.9 billion. Economists expected Japan’s current account surplus to rise 23.4%. The surplus was the lowest for any August since at least 1985, Bloomberg reported.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 0.97% while the Shanghai Composite added 0.5%. The Markit/HSBC services PMI for September fell to 52.4 from 52.8 in August. Readings above 50 indicate expansion. Services-related entities are the biggest employers in China, the world’s second-largest economy.
Retailers and real estate firms helped lift stocks in Shanghai while retailers and telecom shares were among the leaders in Hong Kong.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 0.3%. The country’s business confidence index climbed to 12 from 4, according to a National Australia Bank.
New Zealand’s NZSE 50 fell 0.37% even after the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research said its gauge of business confidence for the third quarter rose to 38 from 32 in the prior quarter, good for a 14-year high. On seasonally adjusted basis, the reading was 32 up from 30, the best reading since early 2010.
An impasse among U.S. lawmakers and the White House over terms needed to create a spending package and reopen the government sent investors avoiding the dollar on Monday.
Market participants are growing increasingly worried that the Congressional stalemate risks going through October 17, the day Congress must raise the U.S. debt ceiling. The U.S. has never failed to raise the debt ceiling and by not doing so, risks the first ever default on its sovereign debt obligations. Moody’s Investors Service has said a U.S. default is unlikely.
Republican leadership is demanding the White House get tough on spending cuts, President Obama and Senate Democrats appear no more in the mood for compromise than their Republican counterparts.
South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.21% while Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 0.39%. S&P 500 futures shed 0.11% a day after the benchmark U.S. index slid 0.85%.