Asia markets were mixed in Monday morning trade after Canada and the U.S. failed to come to a trade agreement on Friday.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 traded in negative territory in early trade, down by 0.39 percent as most of its major sectors were lower. South Korea’s Kospi was also lower by 0.23 percent.
In Australia, however, the ASX 200 traded up by 0.12 percent with the heavily weighted financials sector largely flat.
Over on Wall Street, stocks saw their best August performance in years. That came despite the United States’ trade tensions with multiple countries.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended Friday down by 22 points, but was still up 2.1 percent for the month. The S&P 500 closed 0.01 percent higher that day and was up by 3 percent for the month. Both the Dow and S&P 500 recorded their best performances for the month of August since 2014. The Nasdaq Composite saw even greater gains, closing Friday 0.26 percent higher and ending the month over 5.7 percent up — its best performance for August since 2000.
Despite those gains, investors are still keeping a close eye on the negotiations between Washington and many of its top trading partners. After going past a U.S.-imposed deadline last Friday for Canada to join a trade deal that had been reached between the U.S. and Mexico, more talks between Ottawa and Washington are set to continue this week.
U.S. President Donald Trump notified Congress last Friday that he wants to sign a trade agreement with Mexico, and potentially Canada, in 90 days — the legal period required for a deal to be reviewed.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, was at 95.183 as of 8:09 a.m. HK/SIN, after reaching a low of around 94.52 last week.
The Japanese yen was largely flat against the dollar at 111.10 yen while the Australian dollar was at $0.7186 as of 8:11 a.m. HK/SIN.
Here’s a look at the day ahead:
- Australia: July retail sales at 9:30 a.m. HK/SIN
- China: Caixin August manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index at 9:45 a.m. HK/SIN
– CNBC’s Fred Imbert contributed to this report.
