The Japanese stock exchange started the new week with a solid profit on Monday, breaking through a six-day loss series.
A fall in the Japanese yen and stronger-than-expected growth in Chinese industry led to a positive mood among investors in Japan. The other stock market gauges in the Asian region showed a mixed picture on the first trading day of August.
The core index in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225, ended 2.2 percent in the plus at 22,195.38 points. Murata Manufacturing closed almost flat at the companies, thanks to better results than the Japanese maker of electronic components.
Mazda, on the other hand, dropped 2.5 percent. The Japanese carmaker suffered the most extensive operating loss in eleven years in the past quarter and foresaw a record loss for the entire fiscal year.
Macroeconomically, the Japanese economy has officially entered a recession for the first time in 4.5 years. The third-largest economy in the world contracted by 2.2 percent in the first quarter, after shrinking by 7.2 percent in the fourth quarter. The final shrinkage figure for the first quarter was following an earlier estimate.
The Shanghai stock market was up 1.3 percent in the meantime. According to research firms Markit and Caixin, activity in China’s sizeable industry grew again in July, reaching its highest level since early 2011.
British bank HSBC, which is also listed in Hong Kong, fell more than 4 percent after a shrill drop in profit in the first half of 2020 and reached the lowest price level since 2009.
The Kospi in Seoul won 0.1 percent. The All Ordinaries in Sydney remained almost immediately after the lockdown in force in Melbourne was further tightened to stop the increasing number of new infections there.