Monday saw a strong rise in Asian stocks as investors capitalized on the anticipation of central banks worldwide implementing interest rate reductions, in an effort to stabilize struggling economies.
This week, the market's focus will be on key economic events such as GDP data from various countries and the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement.
The Australian market made positive strides, with its primary indices - the S&P/ASX 200 and the All Ordinaries - both experiencing marginal growth. Uncertainty prevails, however, in light of the upcoming fourth-quarter GDP data release on Wednesday and the Australian central bank's rate decision next Monday.
The best performers in the Australian market included Burson Auto Parts, Pilbara Minerals, James Hardie, Amcor, Santos, Woodside Energy, Elders, Mineral Resources, Dominio's Pizza, Alumina, and Megaport, with gains ranging from 2 to 4.3%. In contrast, Gold Road Resources fell by nearly 16%, and other companies such as WiseTech Global, Wesfarmers, Lynas Corporation, BHP Group, and Harvey Norman also experienced losses.
Energy stocks experienced growth, while technology and mining shares remained mostly unmoved.
In Hong Kong, trading of China Evergrande shares was suspended after a 20% drop following a court order to liquidate the property developer due to a severe debt crisis. Despite this setback, the Hong Kong market remained positively oriented with substantial buying interest in various sectors, pushing the Hang Seng Index up by 1.3%.
Over in Japan, the Nikkei 225 index rose by 0.98%, driven predominantly by stocks in the financial, automobile, and industrial sectors, including companies such as Honda Motor, Toyota Motor, Hino Motors, Suzuki Motor Corp., Nissan Motor, Isuzu Motors, Mazda Motor, Chiba Bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Mizuho Financial, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Concordia Financial, and Shizuoka Financial.
In Singapore, the market made steady progress, closely following the central bank's decision to maintain the current policy rate. Consequently, the FTSE Straits Times Singapore (STI) rose by 0.13% amidst the calming inflation pressures and improving growth perspectives.
In South Korea, the market's KOSPI index rose 1.16% with Joosung Corp., Daiyang Metal Co., Takewang Industrial, HLB Global, and E.Investment & Development registering significant gains.
Lastly, the markets in Malaysia and New Zealand also noted moderate growth, with Malaysia's key index gaining approximately 0.4% and New Zealand's NZX advancing 0.36%.
