Asian Shares Mixed as Benchmarks Fall Back After Upbeat Open

TOKYO (AP) —
People walk by an electronic stock board of a securities firm in Tokyo, Monday. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

Asian shares were mixed Monday after several markets ceded gains from upbeat openings that tracked Friday’s rally on Wall Street.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 finished flat at 23,629.34 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 0.3 percent to 33,051.47. The Shanghai Composite index lost nearly 1.0 percent to 3,523.00. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.9 percent to 2,598.19 and the S&P ASX/200 in Australia added 0.4 percent to 6,075.40. Shares rose in Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand but fell in Indonesia.

U.S. stocks ended last week with their biggest gain in almost nine months as drug-makers and technology companies surged. Investors were also cheered by President Donald Trump’s apparently more positive tone on international trade. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index climbed 1.2 percent to 2,872.87, its biggest gain since March 1. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.8 percent to 26,616.71. The Nasdaq composite rose 1.3 percent to 7,505.77 and the Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks gained 0.4 percent to 1,608.06. Already at record highs, the S&P 500 is up 7.5 percent in January and on track for its largest monthly increase since October 2015.

Technology and industrial companies, such as Amazon in the U.S., have been rising lately on optimism about the global economy. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, President Donald Trump said Friday leaders should prioritize their own countries, but that his administration isn’t opposed to international cooperation and that U.S. economic growth is good for the rest of the world.

“More record highs on Wall St. will push Asia Pacific markets higher at today’s open, according to futures traders. However, a data-packed week and stock reporting seasons around the globe should see market focus turn to the numbers. A weakening U.S. dollar may prove a brake on any investor exuberance,” Michael McCarthy of CMC Markets said in a commentary.

The dollar fell to 108.95 yen from 109.26 late Friday in Asia. The euro fell to $1.2415 from $1.2443.

Benchmark U.S. crude rose 12 cents to $66.26 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It rose 63 cents, or 1 percent, to $66.14 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, dropped 55 cents to $69.97 per barrel.

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