Asian Shares Mostly Lower In Thin Holiday Trade

(RTTNews) - Asian stocks ended mostly lower in thin trade on Monday, with markets in China, Hong Kong and Australia closed for public holidays.

The dollar rose in international markets as the euro collapsed dramatically in the wake of political upheaval in France following President Emmanuel Macron's demand for an early legislative election.

Gold traded lower below $2,300 per ounce ahead of this week's Federal Reserve meeting, where no changes to monetary policy are expected. Oil nudged higher on hopes of improved summer fuel demand in the U.S.

Japanese markets rose sharply after government data showed Japan's economy contracted less than initially reported in January-March, due to upgrades in capital expenditure.

The Nikkei average rallied 0.92 percent to 39,038.16 while the broader Topix index jumped 1 percent to 2,782.49.

A weaker yen lifted export-related stocks, with Honda Motor and Toyota Motor rising 2.4 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively.

Financials benefited from increased domestic yields, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial both climbing around 2 percent.

Electronics giant Sharp surged 6.3 percent on SoftBank's Group new AI data center announcement. SoftBank shares advanced 2.4 percent.

The Bank of Japan (BOJ) holds its two-day monetary policy meeting this week and it is likely that the central bank will consider whether to scale back its roughly 6 trillion yen ($38 billion) in monthly Japanese Government Bond purchases.

Seoul stocks fell notably as investors awaited cues from the upcoming Fed meeting. The Kospi average fell 0.79 percent to 2,701.17. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics lost 2.1 percent and top chemicals maker LG Chem shed 3 percent.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index dropped 0.58 percent to 11,787.57, recording its third successive fall.

U.S. stocks ended modestly lower on Friday as a stronger-than-expected jobs report pushed Treasury yields higher and raised doubts about whether the Fed will be able to cut interest rates this year.

The benchmark 10-year yield rose 14 basis points to more than 4.4 percent after data showed non-farm payroll employment surged by 272,000 jobs in May, well above the 185,000 expected by some analysts, and up from 165,000 in April.

Average hourly earnings were higher than expected as well, while the jobless rate rose to 4 percent, the first time it has breached that level since January 2022.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.1 percent while the Dow and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite both eased around 0.2 percent.