Asia report: Markets mixed as investors digest Senate tax news
Markets in Asia finished mixed on Monday, after a declining session on Wall Street on Friday, as investors digested news out of the US that the Senate just passed its tax bill early on Saturday.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.49% to 22,707.16, as the yen weakened 0.7% against the dollar to last trade JPY 112.95.
Some major exporters continued to face pressure, with Mitsubishi Electric off 0.78%, while Sony reversed losses sustained earlier in the session to close up 1.44% and Nissan adding 0.18%.
On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite was off 0.22% to 3,310.37, and the smaller, technology-heavy Shenzhen Composite fell 0.72% to 1,902.91.
South Korea’s Kospi added 1.06% to 2,501.67, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong was ahead 0.22% at 29,138.28.
Focus was turned stateside early in the session, after Senate Republicans narrowly passed a bill to overhaul the tax code in the US.
The party’s bid to reconstruct the country’s tax system still faced struggles, however, with the Senate and the House of Representatives facing significant differences between the tax bills they have respectively passed.
Republicans have said they hope to reach agreement on a bill to send to the White House by Christmas.
“Fact is, a possible US government shutdown looms heading into 8 December and, in all likelihood, the backstop to avert a shutdown may be by the skin of the teeth as well,” noted Mizuho Bank’s Vishnu Varathan.
“And this could keep long-end yield upside in check if caution trumps exuberance.”
Oil prices were lower in Asian trading, with Brent crude last down 0.76% at $63.25 and West Texas Intermediate off 1.02% to $57.77 per barrel.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.07% to 5,985.59, with the hefty financials subindex losing 0.62% as the country’s big banks closed lower.
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group was off 1.01%, Commonwealth Bank of Australia lost 0.32% and National Australia Bank fell 0.51%.
Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 was off 0.05% to 8,184.87, led lower by dairy processor Synlait, was was off 2.8% ahead of an investor day on Friday.
Trading on the Wellington bourse was affected by an outage on its platform, with data problems first reported at 1526 NZDT and still not resolved by the time the session ended.
Both of the down under dollars were weaker, with the Aussie last off 0.12% against the greenback at AUD 1.3152 and the Kiwi retreating 0.43% to NZD 1.4576.