SINGAPORE — Stocks in Asia-Pacific mixed in Monday trade as China left its benchmark lending rate unchanged over the weekend.
Mainland Chinese stocks were lower in early trading, with the Shenzhen component down 1.562% and Shanghai component slipping 0.37%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 0.27%.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 1.08%, with shares of conglomerate Softbank Group surging more than 2%. The Topix index gained 0.99%. South Korea’s Kospi also traded 0.37% higher.
Meanwhile, shares in Australia were little changed in morning trade as the S&P/ASX 200 was fractionally higher.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.13% higher.
China kept the one-year loan prime rate (LPR) unchanged at 3.85%, largely in line with expectations of traders and analysts in a Reuters snap poll. The five-year LPR was also kept steady at 4.65%. The LPR is a lending reference rate set monthly by 18 banks.
Australian dollar soars
The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7897 after a jump late last week from around $0.776. Earlier, the currency had risen to as high as $0.7908, its highest since early 2018, according to Reuters.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 90.226 after a recent decline from above 90.9.
The Japanese yen traded at 105.51 per dollar, stronger than levels above 106 against the greenback seen in the middle of last week.
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Source: CNBC