Asian Markets Trade Mostly Higher

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly higher on Monday, following the broadly positive cues from global markets on Friday, with energy, technology and financial stocks leading the way higher. Traders also continued to pick up stocks at relatively reduced levels following recent weakness amid concerns about a recession as major central banks move ahead with aggressive rate hikes to tame surging inflation. Asian markets closed mostly higher on Friday.

The Australian stock market is sharply higher on Monday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 t stay below the 6,700 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, with strength across most sectors, particularly financials, technology, materials and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 113.60 points or 1.73 percent to 6,692.30, after touching a high of 6,707.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 115.50 points or 1.71 percent to 6,877.90. Australian stocks closed significantly higher on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group and Mineral Resources are gaining more than 2 percent each, while Rio Tinto is adding 1.5 percent and Fortescue Metals is advancing more than 3 percent. OZ Minerals is slipping almost 4 percent.

Oil stocks are higher. Santos is gaining more than 1 percent, Beach energy is adding 3.5 percent and Origin Energy is up almost 2 percent. Woodside Energy is flat.

Among tech stocks, Xero is gaining almost 1 percent and Afterpay owner Block is adding more than 3 percent, while Zip is losing almost 5 percent. WiseTech Global and Appen are flat.

Gold miners are weak. Evolution Mining is plunging more than 18 percent after it downgraded its gold production guidance for the future years. Gold Road Resources is losing more than 2 percent, Resolute Mining is slipping more than 5 percent, Northern Star Resources is sliding more than 5 percent and Newcrest Mining is declining more than 3 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and ANZ Banking are gaining 2.5 percent each, while Westpac is adding more than 2 percent.

In other news, shares in Metcash surged more than 6 percent after the conglomerate reported strong revenue and profit growth for the full year 2022.

Shares in Imugene are soaring more than 33 percent after the biotech firm announced positive final survival data from its phase 2 study of HER-Vaxx.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.692 on Monday. The Japanese stock market is sharply higher on Monday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 26,800 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, boosted by exporters, energy and technology stocks. Traders also continue to pick up stocks at a bargain after the recent sell-off. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 26,768.77, up 276.80 or 1.04 percent, after touching a high of 26,840.66 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining 1.5 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.4 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.4 percent and Toyota is flat.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 3 percent, Tokyo Electron is adding more than 2 percent and Screen Holdings is up almost 2 percent. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging down 0.4 percent, while Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging up 0.2 percent each.

The major exporters are higher, with Sony is gaining more than 2 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric, Canon and Panasonic are adding almost 1 percent each. Among the other major gainers, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha is gaining more than 6 percent and Tokyo Electric Power is adding almost 6 percent, while Shin-Etsu Chemical, CyberAgent and Otsuka Holdings are up more than 4 percent. Fanuc is rising almost 4 percent, while Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Nippon Yusen K.K., IHI, Mitsui Chemicals, Fuji Electric, Chubu Electric Power, Toyota Tsusho and Showa Denko K.K. are advancing more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, KDDI is losing almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 134 yen-range on Monday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan are higher by between 2.0 and 2.6 percent each, while New Zealand, China, and Singapore are up between 0.7 and 1.1 percent each. Indonesia is bucking the trend and is down 0.4 percent. Malaysia is relatively flat.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher during trading on Friday, extending the strong upward move seen going into the close of trading on Thursday. The major averages all showed substantial upward moves over the course of the session.

The major averages saw further upside in late-day trading, ending the session at their best levels of the day. The Dow jumped 823.32 points or 2.7 percent to 31,500.68, the Nasdaq surged 375.43 points or 3.3 percent to 11,607.62 and the S&P 500 shot up 116.01 points or 3.1 percent to 3,911.74.

The major European markets also showed significant moves to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index spiked by 3.2 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index surged by 2.7 percent and the German DAX Index jumped by 1.6 percent.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Friday on optimism for continued high demand for energy and tight supply. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended higher by $3.35 or 3.2 percent at $107.62 a barrel. WTI futures shed 1.8 percent in the week.