Asian Stocks Mixed In Holiday Trade

(RTTNews) - Asian markets moved mixed on Monday amidst holidays in several regions including China, Hong Kong and South Korea. Bank of Japan continuing with its ultra-loose monetary policy and maintaining status quo on the yield curve control policy helped sentiment. Mood was also supported by the view that Reserve Bank of Australia would be holding rates steady in its impending review due on Tuesday.

The Japanese benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 267 points or 0.92 percent to end trading at 29,123.18. The day's trading range was between 29,016.83 and 29,145.89.

NEC Corp topped with gains of more than 14 percent. Odakyu Electric Railway Co gained 5.7 percent. SKY Perfect JSAT Holdings, Keisei Electric Railway Co and Mitsubishi Electric Corp, all gained more than 4 percent.

Z Holdings Corp was the biggest laggard with an overnight decline of 5.6 percent. Nippon Electric Glass Co followed with a decline of 5.4 percent. Alps Electric Co shed 4.1 percent. Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, both declined more than 3 percent.

Australia's S&P/ASX200 closed trading at 7,334.60 after gaining 25 points or 0.35 percent.

Resmed surged 6.6 percent. Lithium producer Lake Resources followed with gains of 6 percent. Imugene added 4 percent followed by Pinnacle Investment Management Group and HMC Capital, both of which added more than 3 percent.

Syrah Resources dropped more than 10 percent following the graphite producer's quarterly update last week. Silverlake Resources shed 4.7 percent. Pilbara minerals declined 3.3 percent. Nanosonics, and Life360, both declined more than 2 percent.

The NZX 50 of the New Zealand Stock Exchange shed 17 points or 0.14 percent to close at 12,002.97. Trading ranged between 11,933.44 and 12,019.84.

Building materials business Fletcher Building and Property for Industry, a REIT, both gained more than 2 percent. Polymer business Skellerup Holdings, aquaculture farming business Sanford and software business Vista Group International, all added more than 1 percent.

Synlait Milk and Freightways, both shed more than 2 percent. Skycity Entertainment Group, banking business Heartland Group Holdings and healthcare business Pacific Edge, all lost more than 1 percent.

Wall Street had closed on a positive note on Friday amidst better-than-expected earnings updates. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.69 percent to close at 12,226.58 whereas the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.80 percent to finish trading at 34,098.16.