Markets in the region mostly closed higher on Monday, shrugging off the cautious mood seen earlier as investors focused on a mix of trade tensions.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 turned more positive through the session, with the index closing higher by 0.48 percent, or 109.54 points, at 22,804.04 amid broad gains.
Energy-related stocks climbed, with the Topix oil and coal products sub index rising 1.72 percent. Gains were also seen in the retail and technology sectors.
Elsewhere, South Korea’s benchmark Kospi rose 0.76 percent to 2,470.15, outperforming other regional markets as manufacturing names advanced.
Daewoo Engineering and Construction surged 6.43 percent, Posco gained 3.33 percent and Hyundai Cement popped 29.86 percent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.43 percent by 3:05 p.m. HK/SIN, but mainland stocks were downbeat. The Shanghai composite slipped 0.48 percent to end at 3,052.36, but was off its intraday low.
MSCI’s broad index of shares in Asia Pacific excluding Japan edged higher by 0.34 percent in Asia afternoon trade. Markets in Australia, meanwhile, were closed on Monday.
Investors kept an eye on trade tensions between the U.S. and its traditional allies, including Canada and the European Union. U.S. President Donald Trump on the weekend withdrew his support for a G-7 declaration and criticized Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for being “dishonest and weak.”
The Trump administration had applied tariffs on aluminum and steel tariffs on other G-7 members ahead of the G-7 summit last week. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the EU was preparing its own countermeasures against the U.S., Reuters reported.
“The G-7 meeting over the weekend did not bode well for risk sentiment … [a]lthough market reaction was mainly constrained to the Canadian dollar,” said OCBC Bank analysts in a morning note.
The Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of Japan are due to meet in the days ahead.
The Fed is expected to announce an interest rate hike and the ECB has said it will be discussing how it will wind down its asset-purchasing program.
U.S. stocks closed slightly higher on Friday, with major indexes finishing the week higher despite caution over trade-related tensions playing out at the G-7 summit, which concluded on Saturday.
The major averages rose at least 1.2 percent for the week.
The gains notched stateside on Friday were in contrast to declines seen in European and Asian markets in the last session, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 slipping 0.21 percent.
MSCI’s index of shares in Asia Pacific excluding Japan had fallen more than 1 percent in the previous session.
The dollar was mostly steady against a basket of currencies, with the dollar index standing at 93.443 at 3:02 p.m. HK/SIN. Against the yen, the greenback edged up to 110.04.
In individual movers, shares of Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering (HAECO) jumped 54.66 percent by 3:12 p.m. HK/SIN after Swire Pacific said it intended to privatize the former. Swire has a roughly 74.99 percent stake in HAECO.
