Stocks in Asia traded lower Monday morning as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies reached an agreement on a record oil production cut.
Mainland Chinese stocks declined in early trade, with the Shanghai composite shedding 0.45% while the Shenzhen composite fell 0.814%.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 slipped 0.9% in morning trade as shares of index heavyweight Fast Retailing fell 2.08% while the Topix index dipped 0.69%. South Korea’s Kospi also declined 0.6% as shares of chipmaker SK Hynix dropped more than 2%.
Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index traded flat.
Markets in Hong Kong and Australia are closed on Monday for Easter Monday.
Meanwhile, oil prices rose in the morning of Asian trading hours. International benchmark Brent crude futures were up 4.64% to $32.94 per barrel. U.S. crude futures added 5.62% to $24.04 per barrel.
The moves came after OPEC and its allies, known collectively as OPEC+, finalized an agreement to cut production by 9.7 million barrels per day. That’s the single largest output cut in history.
Developments surrounding the global coronavirus pandemic also likely to continue to weigh on investor sentiment, with more than 1.8 million confirmed cases globally while at least 112,241 lives have been taken, according to data compiled by John Hopkins University.
| TICKER | COMPANY | NAME | PRICE | CHANGE | %CHANGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NIKKEI | Nikkei 225 Index | NIKKEI | 19349.74 | -148.76 | -0.76 |
| HSI | Hang Seng Index | HSI | 24300.33 | 329.96 | 1.38 |
| ASX 200 | S&P/ASX 200 | ASX 200 | 5387.30 | 180.40 | 3.46 |
| SHANGHAI | Shanghai | SHANGHAI | 2786.03 | -10.60 | -0.38 |
| KOSPI | KOSPI Index | KOSPI | 1846.09 | -14.61 | -0.79 |
| CNBC 100 | CNBC 100 ASIA IDX | CNBC 100 | 7443.16 | -14.52 | -0.19 |
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 99.465 after declining from levels above 100 last week.
The Japanese yen traded at 108.03 per dollar after seeing levels above 108.8 last week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.6338 after rising from levels below $0.62 in the previous trading week.
Source: CNBC