Asia-Pacific stocks mixed; China to announce benchmark lending rate


SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific were mixed in Monday morning trade as investors look ahead to the release of China’s latest benchmark lending rate.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.6% while the Topix index declined 0.69%. Over in South Korea, the Kospi gained 0.8% as shares of industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics soared more than 4%.

Australian stocks declined as the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.62%.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.04% lower.

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China’s latest one-year loan prime rate is set to be announced at 9:30 a.m. HK/SIN on Monday.

Investors will also monitor Hong Kong-listed shares of Chinese tech firms Alibaba, Baidu and JD.com after they were among firms fined by China’s market regulator for allegedly violating anti-monopoly legislation.

Currencies and oil

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 96.124 following a recent bounce from around 95.6.

The Japanese yen traded at 114.02 per dollar, stronger than levels above 114.5 seen against the greenback last week. The Australian dollar changed hands at 0.7235 after dropping from above $0.735 last week.

Oil prices were lower in the morning of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures down 0.87% to $78.20 per barrel. U.S. crude futures slipped 0.79% to $75.34 per barrel.



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