Asian Shares Mixed As China Trims Repo Rate

(RTTNews) - Asian stocks traded mixed on Monday in the aftermath of the Federal Reserve's 50-bps rate cut last week. Regional volumes remained thin due to a market holiday in Japan.

The focus shifted to U.S. GDP print, key inflation figures, surveys on global manufacturing, U.S. consumer confidence and durable goods orders data due this week that could shed further light on the Fed's rate trajectory in the months ahead.

Investors also await speeches from at least nine Fed policy officials this week including Chair Jerome Powell, two governors and New York Fed President John Williams.

According to CME FedWatch, Fed futures traders currently price in 75 bps in rate cuts by the end of this year, and nearly 200 bps in cuts by December 2025.

The Swiss National Bank meets Thursday and markets have fully priced in a quarter-point cut. Sweden's central bank is also expected to ease rates by 25 points when it meets on Wednesday.

The dollar index edged up slightly this morning and gold held steady near record highs as U.S. congressional leaders announced an agreement Sunday on a short-term spending bill that will fund federal agencies for about three months.

Oil extended gains, after having jumped around 4 percent last week on hopes that lower borrowing costs would support global economic growth and demand.

Middle East tensions remain in play as Israel continued to carry out strikes in Gaza and Lebanon, raising concerns of an all-out war in the region.

Hezbollah launched more than 100 rockets early Sunday across a wider and deeper area of northern Israel after the country allegedly detonated several electronic devices used by the Lebanese group.

China's Shanghai Composite index edged up 0.2 percent after the country's central bank surprised many by lowering its 14-day repo rate by 10 basis points.

The upside was capped following reports that the U.S. may propose a ban on Chinese software and hardware in autonomous vehicles.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up half a percent, heading for a three-month high.

South Korea's Kospi average was little changed while Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.7 percent ahead of a Reserve Bank of Australia policy meeting due on Tuesday, with no change in interest rates expected.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand's S&P/NZX-50 index was down 0.6 percent.

U.S. stocks ended mixed on Friday but logged strong gains for the week following the Fed's aggressive rate cut earlier in the week.

Sentiment was dented a bit after package delivery giant FedEx cut its earnings outlook.

The Dow finished marginally higher to close at a new record high, while the S&P 500 eased 0.2 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 0.4 percent.

European stocks ended lower on Friday after a rally in the previous session spurred by the Fed's jumbo interest-rate cut.

The pan European STOXX 600 declined 1.4 percent. The German DAX and France's CAC 40 both lost around 1.5 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 gave up 1.2 percent.