Investing.com - Stocks in Tokyo surged on Monday, but Shanghai dropped as markets in China came back online after a week-long holiday break.
The Nikkei 225 rose 4.89%, while the Shanghai Composite fell 2.31% and the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.84%.
Japan's GDP contracted 0.4% quarter-on- quarter, or an annualized 1.4%, in the fourth quarter, hit by sluggish consumer spending amid a slow wage recovery and uncertain growth prospects. An unexpected rise in business investment was outweighed by declines in other key components of the gross domestic product.
Markets in both the U.S. and Canada will be closed for national holidays.
In the week ahead investors will be watching U.S. inflation data for indications on whether the Federal Reserve will raise rates at all this year. As well, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi is to testify on monetary policy before the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, in Brussels.
On Monday, China reports trade data for January with exports seen down 1.9% year-on-year, and imports down 0.8% for a trade balance of $58.85 billion. However, the National Bureau of Statistics isn't releasing retail sales, industrial output or fixed-asset investment figures this week because the timing of the Lunar New Year holiday, which changes every year, distorts the data too much to make any comparisons meaningful.
During the break, China's central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said in an interview at the weekend there is no basis for continued yuan depreciation.
In an wide-ranging interview with financial magazine Caixin, Zhou spoke during a week-long holiday in China with markets shut, warning the PBOC won't allow speculators to dominate market sentiment, and downplayed concerns over the sharp decline in the country's foreign-exchange reserves over the past few months.
Also on Monday, in Japan, capacity utilization for December month-on-month is due as well as industrial production expected down 1.3% and the tertiary industry activity index expected at a gain of 0.1%.
Last week, U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Financials, Basic Materials and Oil & Gas sectors led shares higher. At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 2.00%, while the S&P 500 index added 1.95%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 1.66%.