Investing.com - Asian shares were mixed on Monday with Sydney and Shanghai up as investors weighed the statements coming out of a national policy leadership conclave in China.
The S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.16%, while the Nikkei 225 fell 0.42% even as Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda Monday said expanded monetary easing has a powerful effect of boosting share prices by leading the yen weaker, which would support economic growth and inflation.
In Australia, the AIG construction index came in at 46.1 in February, compared to 46.3 previously.
In China, share prices extended the gains for the consecutive fifth session as the Shanghai Composite Index was last up 0.55%, butHong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down 0.29%.
China's FX reserves came in $3.19 trillion in the latest update, down from $3.23 trillion previously. At the weekend, China outlined growth and other aims for the economy at an annual meeting of senior leaders that signalled GDP growth of 6.5%, or above.
The yuan was up against the U.S. dollar Monday after the People's Bank of China set the fixing stronger at 6.5113 compared with 6.5284.
U.S. stocks pared early gains on Friday, but still closed at their highest levels in two months as domestic nonfarm jobs rose sharply last month helping ease longstanding concerns that the economy could be on the verge of falling into recession.
In the week ahead, investors will be focusing on Thursday’s European Central Bank meeting after the bank disappointed expectations with a smaller-than-expected stimulus move at its December meeting.
Central bank meetings in Canada and New Zealand will also be closely watched.
Investors will also be zoning in on inflation and trade data from China amid concerns that the world’s number-to economy is heading for a hard landing.
On Monday, Germany is to release data on factory orders. The Swiss National Bank is to publish data on its foreign currency reserves and the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers are to hold talks in Brussels.
Later, Federal Reserve Governors Lael Brainard and Stanley Fischer are both due to speak at an event in Washington.
Last week, the dollar weakened against the other major currencies on Friday as a mixed U.S. jobs report for February dampened expectations that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates again in the near term.
On Friday morning, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that nonfarm payrolls soared by 242,000 in February, above consensus estimates of 190,000 and significantly higher than January's upwardly revised total of 172,000. The unemployment rate held steady at eight-year lows at 4.9%, while the labor force participation rate inched up to 62.9%. The robust job gains sent U.S. Stock Index futures higher in pre-market trading, before the major indices steadily moved lower throughout the session as analysts parsed the data from the critical report.
At the same time, investors reacted to slight declines in average hourly earnings last month, which prompted investors to push back their expectations for the timing of the Federal Reserve's next interest rate hike.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 62.87 or 0.37% to 17,006.77, closing higher for the third-consecutive week, while the NASDAQ Composite index gained 9.60 or 0.20% to 4,717.02 after holding onto its gains in the final minutes of the session. The S&P 500 Composite index, meanwhile, added 6.59 or 0.33% to 1,999.99, as seven of 10 sectors closed in the green.