Asia Markets
Asian Stock Markets Gain as Tech Sector Stabilizes
Asian stock markets largely advanced on Monday, as last week's tech rout appeared to recede and global crude prices remained roughly steady, despite fresh turmoil in the Middle East.Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Tokyo finished in the green, as did most other regional exchanges.In Japan, the Nikkei 225 opened evenly, wobbled, but finished up 0.2%.The benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 107.23 to 69,468.11, as gaining issues outnumbered losers 157 to 9.Leading the upside was advanced materials maker Taiyo Yuden, up 10.9%, while tech financier SoftBank fell 5.3%.In economic news, Japan's retail sales rose 5.3% on the year in May, and advanced 1.9% from April, reported the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index opened higher and rose to the close, finishing up 1.6% as tech-sector sentiments were boosted on IPO news.The broad gauge Hang Seng rose 354.82 to 23,026.68 as gaining issues outnumbered losers 73 to 12. The Hang Seng TECH Index gained 3.2% on the day, while the Mainland Properties Index rose 1.5%.Leading the upside was CSPV Pharmaceutical, gaining 6.9%, while Lenovo declined 9.2%.On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite rose 1.2% to 4,073.90.In corporate news, Baidu's (BIDU) AI chip unit, Kunlunxin, plans a $50 billion IPO in Hong Kong, reported Radio Television Hong Kong.Also, China's autonomous driving startup Momenta is preparing a $751 million IPO, also to be listed in Hong Kong, reported the South China Morning Post.On the other regional exchanges, the South Korean KOSPI fell 0.2%; the Taiwan TWSE rose 1%; the Australian ASX 200 advanced 0.7%; the Singapore Straits Times Index rose 0.3%, and the Thai Set gained 2.3%. In late trading in Mumbai, the Sensex was down 0.5%The MSCI All Country Asia Pacific Index rose 0.2% on the day.
Hang SengNikkei 225Shanghai Composite