SINGAPORE – Asian stocks rose Monday morning as the final trading week of 2020 begins.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.32%, while the Topix index rose 0.27%. Kospi in South Korea rose 0.86%.
The largest MSCI index of Asia-Pacific equities outside Japan traded 0.18% higher.
Profits at Chinese industrial firms in November rose 15.5 percent from a year earlier, according to data released by the country’s National Bureau of Statistics over the weekend.
Meanwhile, Alibaba shares in Hong Kong will be monitored by investors on Monday. This comes after Chinese regulators ordered the Ant group, affiliated with Alibaba, to rectify its business.
Markets in Australia and New Zealand are closed on Monday for a holiday.
In the coronavirus developments, the US is facing an approaching government shutdown, while President Donald Trump has refused to sign a $ 900 billion Covid-19 aid bill passed by both houses of Congress. Trump criticized direct $ 600 bill payments to Americans, demanding $ 2,000 checks instead.
Coins and oil
The US dollar index, which tracks the dollar against a basket of its colleagues, was at 90,199, after falling from levels of over 90.4 in recent days.
The Japanese yen traded at 103.54 per dollar, after seeing levels below 103.4 against the dollar last week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $ 0.7613 after recovering from a drop below $ 0.75 last week.
Oil prices fell in the morning trading hours in Asia, with international references to the gross future on gross products falling 0.8% to $ 50.88 per barrel. US crude futures also fell 0.81% to $ 47.84 a barrel.