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Asia-Pacific markets were mixed Monday as escalating trade tensions kept investors on edge.
U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters Sunday that he was planning to announce a blanket 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports on Monday, according to Reuters.
Over in Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 ended the day flat at 38,801.17, while the broader Topix index edged down 0.15% to close at 2,733.01.
The country reported loan growth of 3% year on year in January, falling slightly from December’s 3.1%.
South Korea’s Kospi closed flat at 2,521.27, while the small-cap Kosdaq advanced 0.91% to 749.67.
Mainland China’s CSI 300 Index changed course from losses earlier in the day to close up 0.21% at 3,901.06, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index had climbed 1.76% in the last hour of trade.
Consumer inflation in China rose to a five-month high in January on the back of higher spending in the lead up to the Lunar New Year, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Sunday revealed. The consumer price index rose 0.7% month on month and 0.5% annually in January — more than Reuters’ 0.4% estimate.
Meanwhile, its producer price index, which captures the wholesale price of goods, fell 2.3% from the previous year in January, more than the 2.1% drop expected by Reuters.
Investors will also be keeping an eye on Indian stocks that fell Friday, after the Reserve Bank of India expectedly cut interest rates for the first time in five years.
Indian stocks extended previous session’s losses to open lower. The benchmark Nifty 50 was down 0.91%, while the BSE Sensex index fell 0.87% as at 1.30 p.m. local time.
Singapore’s benchmark Straits Times Index hit an all-time high of 3,910.12 points, LSEG data showed, led by gains in the shares of telecommunications operator Singapore Telecommunications and well as local banks DBS Group Holdings, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation and United Overseas Bank.
The STI benchmark was trading up 0.53% in its last hour of trade.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 ended the day 0.34% lower at 8,482.80.
The three key U.S. indexes fell Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump’s said he was planning reciprocal tariffs on trading partners. Markets were further pressured by the release of consumer sentiment and jobs data which pointed to a pickup in inflation and spiked the 10-year Treasury yield above 4.5% at its session high.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 444.23 points, or 0.99%, to close at 44,303.40. The S&P 500 declined 0.95% to 6,025.99, and the Nasdaq Composite slid 1.36% to end at 19,523.40. Friday’s losses left the major averages in negative territory on the week.
— CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Hakyung Kim contributed to this report.
Shares of DBS Bank hit record high on strong net profit, dividend raise
Shares of DBS Group Holdings soared as much as 4.08% Monday to cross 45 Singapore dollars ($33.19) for the first time, following an 11% rise in its full-year 2024 net profit to 11.4 billion Singapore dollars.
The Singapore-headquartered lender plans to pay a final dividend of 60 Singapore cents, up from 54 Singapore cents per it last paid. It will also pay out a capital return dividend of 15 Singapore cents, which will be paid out over the current financial year, DBS said on Tuesday.
With this, DBS shareholders will receive a total of 2.22 Singapore dollars per share for FY2024, up 27% from the preceding year.
DBS’ net profit rose 10% in the fourth-quarter to hit 2.62 billion Singapore dollars, thanks to growth in its markets trading and its commercial segments.
Shares in DBS Group Holdings
— Amala Balakrishner
Stocks finish Friday’s session in negative territory
Stocks closed out the first trading week of February in negative territory.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 444.23 points, or 0.99%, lower to finish at 44,303.40. The S&P 500 dropped 0.95% to finish at 6,025.99, and the Nasdaq Composite declined 1.36% to settle at 19,523.40.
— Sean Conlon