Asia report: Markets mixed amid earnings reports, Trump visit

Markets in Asia finished in a mixed state on Monday, with investors sifting through a deluge of earnings reports, and President Trump touching down in the region.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 finished ahead 0.04% at 22,548.35, as the yen creeped 0.01% stronger against the dollar to last trade at JPY 114.06.

The Bank of Japan released its minutes from its recent meeting on Monday, which showed most of its policymakers were in agreement that the central bank should stand pat on its current policy trajectory.

On the corporate front in Tokyo, oil plays were higher as carmakers had a mixed session, with Mazda Motor down 4.3% and Subaru off 2.71%.

Mazda had reported a worse-than-expected quarterly profit, and Subaru revised its forecast full-year operating profit downwards.

Merger talks between Sprint and T-Mobile in the US came to an end on Saturday, with Sprint owner SoftBank and T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom confirming the news.

SoftBank shares were ahead 2.6% on Monday, with the firm due to report earnings after the close in Tokyo.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.52% at 3,389.12, and the smaller, technology-heavy Shenzhen Composite added 1.18% to 1,999.30.

China’s regulatory approach to controlling resources was reaffirmed by People’s Bank of China governor Zhou Xiaochuan on Monday.

He said that, while the market should play an important role in resource allocation, regulation remained vital.

The comments came after Xiaochuan warned of the risk of an asset price crash in October, caused by excessive optimism.

South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.33% to 2,549.41, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong was off 0.02% at 28,596.80.

Blue-chip technology stocks dragged the Seoul bourse lower, with Samsung Electronics flat and SK Hynix down 1.07%.

Cosmetics and oil plays offset some of those losses, however.

Qatar Airways made waves in the Hong Kong aviation market, announcing it would be taking a 9.61% chunk of Chep Lak Kok-based Cathay Pacific Airways from Kingboard Chemical, in a deal worth HKD 5.61bn.

Focus on Monday was turned to US president Donald Trump, who landed in Japan - the first stop on his five-country tour of the region.

Upon arriving, Trump fired a thinly-veiled warning in Pyongyang’s direction, saying “no dictator” should “ever underestimate American resolve”.

He was set to visit South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines later in the week.

Oil prices were higher during Asian trade, with Brent crude last up 0.61% at $62.45 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate ahead 0.54% at $55.94.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was 0.1% softer at 5,953.78, led lower by the hefty financials subindex, although the information technology and utilities sectors notched decent gains.

Major regional bank Westpac announced a 3% rise in cash earnings for the year to 30 September, to AUD 8.06bn, as statutory net profit improved 7% to AUD 7.99bn.

The corporation’s cash earnings improvement was still below the 4% rise forecast in a Reuters poll, leading to a 2.16% decline in its share price in Sydney.

Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 was also lower, falling 0.1% to 8,053.63.

The benchmark was led lower by Westpac’s New Zealand-traded shares, which were off 2.6% after the firm’s earnings report in Sydney.

Other banking stocks were also on the back foot in Wellington, with Australia and New Zealand Banking Group down 0.4% and AMP off 0.2%.

The down under dollars were mixed, with the Aussie last 0.2% stronger on the greenback at AUD 1.3046, while the Kiwi weakened 0.11% to NZD 1.4493.