Asian Markets Trade Mixed

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mixed on Monday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street on Friday, as traders remain cautiously optimistic on bets the US Fed will likely cut interest rates in September after Fed officials forecast just one rate cut this year. Japanese market is falling almost 2 percent. Asian markets closed mixed on Friday.

The Australian stock market is currently trading slightly lower on Monday, extending the losses in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is staying just above the 7,700.00 level, with weakness in iron miners and technology stocks nearly offset by gains in gold miners.

Traders turned cautious ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia's monetary policy decision later in the week, with the RBA widely expected to hold the cash rate at 4.35 percent.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 13.20 points or 0.17 percent to 7,711.10, after hitting a low of 7,705.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 19.40 points or 0.24 percent to 7,955.40. Australian stocks closed modestly lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto and BHP Group are edging down 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is losing almost 1 percent and Mineral Resources is declining more than 1 percent. Oil stocks are mixed. Beach energy is edging up 0.2 percent and Origin Energy is adding almost 1 percent, while Woodside Energy and Santos are edging down 0.3 to 0.5 percent each.

Among tech stocks, Appen is losing more than 2 percent, Afterpay owner Block is edging down 0.1 percent and WiseTech Global is down almost 1 percent, while Zip is edging up 0.5 percent. Xero is flat.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Gold Road Resources is gaining almost 3 percent and Evolution Mining is edging up 0.3 percent, while Resolute Mining and Newmont are adding more than 1 percent each. Northern Star Resources is flat.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while ANZ Banking is edging down 0.2 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.660 on Monday.

The Japanese stock market is trading sharply lower on Monday, giving up the gains in the previous session. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is plunging to near the 38,100 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street on Friday, with losses across most sectors led by index heavyweights, exporters and technology stocks as traders asses the Bank of Japan's latest monetary policy decision and the BoJ's plan to wind down its bond buying program.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 38,106.41, down 708.15 or 1.82 percent, after hitting a low of 37,956.49 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly higher on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is down more than 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing almost 3 percent and Toyota is also declining almost 3 percent.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is losing more than 1 percent, Tokyo Electron is declining almost 3 percent and Advantest is slipping almost 4 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging down 0.3 percent, Mizuho Financial is losing almost 1 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is declining almost 2 percent.

The major exporters are lower. Canon is losing almost 2 percent, Sony is declining almost 3 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is slipping 1.5 percent and Panasonic is down more than 3 percent.

Among other major gainers, Trend Micro and Rakuten Group are losing almost 5 percent each, while Dentsu Group and Ricoh are down more than 4 percent each. Olympus, Sumitomo Realty & Development, Konica Minolta, Resonac Holdings, NTN, Oji Holdings, Furukawa Electric, Ebara, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Takashimaya are declining almost are declining almost 4 percent each.

Conversely, there are no other major gainers.

In economic news, the value of core machinery orders in Japan was down a seasonally adjusted 2.9 percent on month in April, the Cabinet Office said on Monday - coming in at 886.3 billion yen. That follows the 2.9 percent monthly increase in March. On a yearly basis, core machinery orders rose 0.7 percent after gaining 2.7 percent in the previous month.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 157 yen-range on Monday.

Elsewhere in Asia, New Zealand, China and South Korea are lower by between 0.2 and 0.9 percent each. Hong Kong and Taiwan are up 0.3 and 0.2 percent, respectively. Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia are closed for Eid-ul-Adha.

On Wall Street, stock saw modest weakness throughout much of the trading session on Friday but recovered to end the day roughly flat. The tech-heavy Nasdaq bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually ending the session at a record closing high.

While the Nasdaq crept up 21.32 points or 0.1 percent to 17,688.88, the S&P 500 edged down 2.14 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 5,431.60 and the Dow dipped 57.94 points or 0.2 percent to 38,589.16.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index plummeted by 2.7 percent, the German DAX Index tumbled by 1.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index dipped by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices snapped a four-day winning streak and settled lower on Friday after data showed a jump in U.S. crude inventories, while a stronger greenback weighed as well. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July fell $0.17 or about 0.22 percent at $78.45 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained nearly 4 percent in the week.