Asian markets mixed

Most Asia-Pacific equities markets saw declines on Monday. The main exception was the Taiex index in Taiwan, which added 1.4 percent to 8,939.19, a seven-year high. The Sensex was also higher in India, gaining 0.14 percent to 14,487.72. The region’s big loser was the Shanghai Composite, which dropped 3.7 percent to 3,941.08. Elsewhere, the Sydney Ordinaries was down 0.79 percent to 6,358.6, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong fell 0.81 percent to 21,822.35. The Straits Times index was 0.97 percent lower to 3,580.33 in Singapore. The Tokyo markets also declined. The Nikkei 225 fell 0.6 percent to 18,087.48 and the Topix index dropped 0.7 percent to 1,764.87.

European markets were also mainly lower on the day. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 dropped 0.08 percent to 1,597.48. In Madrid, the IBEX added 0.45 percent to 14,851.7, but the Dax dropped 0.24 percent to 7,930.61 in Frankfurt and the Paris CAC-40 was 0.34 percent lower to 6,002.85. In London, the FTSE 100 added 0.32 percent to 6,588.4 but the FTSE 250 dropped 0.1 percent to 11,577.4.

The New York equities markets were up in midday trade. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.94 percent to 13,486.34, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.57 percent to 2,603.6 and the S&P 500 was 0.71 percent higher to 1,513.19. The Russell 2000 index of small and mid-caps was 0.29 percent higher to 837.19.

Crude oil prices were lower even though supply concerns persist, while metals prices were mixed, with lead hitting a new record high.

In currencies markets, the yen strengthened after the Bank for International Settlements called the Japanese currencies weakness “anomalous”. Meanwhile, sterling briefly went above $2 versus the US dollar during the trading day. Bonds yields dropped on 10-year paper in the US, UK, Eurozone, and Japan.

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