Investing.com - Asian stock markets were mostly lower during late Asian trade on Monday, as investors shunned riskier assets amid uncertainty over the outcome of Tuesday’s U.S. presidential elections.
During late Asian trade, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 0.35%, Australia’s ASX/200 Index added 0.3%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index ended down 0.5%.
Market players were focusing on a series of important political events set to unfold later this week.
The U.S. presidential election takes place on Tuesday, with opinion polls indicating a dead heat between President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
Investors will then turn their focus to the start of the Chinese Communist Party Congress on Thursday, where a once-in-a-decade leadership change is to take place.
Meanwhile, market players continued to eye developments surrounding Spain, amid ongoing uncertainty over whether the debt-strapped country is moving closer to formally requesting a bailout from its euro zone partners.
A bailout would allow the European Central Bank to step in and buy Spanish sovereign debt, which would result in reduced borrowing costs for the debt-strapped nation. But Spain has been reluctant to do so because it may come with conditions on its budget.
Concerns over political uncertainty in Greece and doubts over whether the country will meet austerity targets also weighed on sentiment.
Data in the U.S. on Friday showed the U.S. economy added 171,000 jobs in October, beating forecasts for an increase of 125,000. The unemployment rate ticked up to 7.9% from 7.8% in September as more people re-entered the labor force.
But markets reacted negatively to the upbeat jobs data, amid concern the Federal Reserve might scale back its monetary easing measures to support growth.
In Japan, troubled electronics retailer Sharp saw shares tumble 6.7% after ratings agency Fitch late Friday cut its rating on the firm to B- from BBB- with a negative outlook.
Elsewhere in the sector, Sony saw shares drop 2.25% after its first-half earnings results prompted Moody’s to warn of a possible downgrade.
Meanwhile, shares in Hong Kong were mildly lower, as losses in commodity firms weighed.
Oil giants PetroChina and Sinopec fell 1.3% and 1.8% respectively after oil prices slumped to the lowest level in almost four months in New York on Friday, as the U.S. dollar rallied sharply on the back of upbeat U.S. employment data.
On the upside, share of Foxconn International Holdings rallied 33.7% after Citigroup upgraded the stock to “buy” and said it expected the world's biggest contract maker of cellphones to start assembling iPhones later this year.
Elsewhere, in Australia, the benchmark ASX/200 Index bucked the regional trend to end modestly higher, as bellwether miners rose.
Mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tonto added 1.15% and 2.6% respectively.
A 1.3% increase in shares of Westpac Banking Group also contributed to gains, after the lender reported second-half cash profit rose 9%, above market expectations.
Looking ahead, European stock market futures pointed to a flat open, as ongoing uncertainty over Spain and Greece weighed on sentiment.
The EURO STOXX 50 futures pointed to a gain of 0.1% at the open, France’s CAC 40 futures added 0.15%, London’s FTSE 100 futures was little changed, while Germany's DAX futures pointed to a flat open.
Later in the day, the euro zone was to produce a report on investor confidence, while Spain was to publish official data on employment change.
In the U.S., the Institute of Supply Management was to publish data on service sector activity.
During late Asian trade, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 0.35%, Australia’s ASX/200 Index added 0.3%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index ended down 0.5%.
Market players were focusing on a series of important political events set to unfold later this week.
The U.S. presidential election takes place on Tuesday, with opinion polls indicating a dead heat between President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
Investors will then turn their focus to the start of the Chinese Communist Party Congress on Thursday, where a once-in-a-decade leadership change is to take place.
Meanwhile, market players continued to eye developments surrounding Spain, amid ongoing uncertainty over whether the debt-strapped country is moving closer to formally requesting a bailout from its euro zone partners.
A bailout would allow the European Central Bank to step in and buy Spanish sovereign debt, which would result in reduced borrowing costs for the debt-strapped nation. But Spain has been reluctant to do so because it may come with conditions on its budget.
Concerns over political uncertainty in Greece and doubts over whether the country will meet austerity targets also weighed on sentiment.
Data in the U.S. on Friday showed the U.S. economy added 171,000 jobs in October, beating forecasts for an increase of 125,000. The unemployment rate ticked up to 7.9% from 7.8% in September as more people re-entered the labor force.
But markets reacted negatively to the upbeat jobs data, amid concern the Federal Reserve might scale back its monetary easing measures to support growth.
In Japan, troubled electronics retailer Sharp saw shares tumble 6.7% after ratings agency Fitch late Friday cut its rating on the firm to B- from BBB- with a negative outlook.
Elsewhere in the sector, Sony saw shares drop 2.25% after its first-half earnings results prompted Moody’s to warn of a possible downgrade.
Meanwhile, shares in Hong Kong were mildly lower, as losses in commodity firms weighed.
Oil giants PetroChina and Sinopec fell 1.3% and 1.8% respectively after oil prices slumped to the lowest level in almost four months in New York on Friday, as the U.S. dollar rallied sharply on the back of upbeat U.S. employment data.
On the upside, share of Foxconn International Holdings rallied 33.7% after Citigroup upgraded the stock to “buy” and said it expected the world's biggest contract maker of cellphones to start assembling iPhones later this year.
Elsewhere, in Australia, the benchmark ASX/200 Index bucked the regional trend to end modestly higher, as bellwether miners rose.
Mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tonto added 1.15% and 2.6% respectively.
A 1.3% increase in shares of Westpac Banking Group also contributed to gains, after the lender reported second-half cash profit rose 9%, above market expectations.
Looking ahead, European stock market futures pointed to a flat open, as ongoing uncertainty over Spain and Greece weighed on sentiment.
The EURO STOXX 50 futures pointed to a gain of 0.1% at the open, France’s CAC 40 futures added 0.15%, London’s FTSE 100 futures was little changed, while Germany's DAX futures pointed to a flat open.
Later in the day, the euro zone was to produce a report on investor confidence, while Spain was to publish official data on employment change.
In the U.S., the Institute of Supply Management was to publish data on service sector activity.