BANGKOK — Shares were mixed Monday in Asia, with South Korea’s benchmark down almost 3% and Hong Kong’s up nearly 3%, after U.S. stocks closed out last week with more records.
Oil prices rose after the weekend overthrow of Syrian leader Bashar Assad, who sought asylum in Moscow after rebels ended the Assad family’s 50 years of iron rule, adding to uncertainty in a region fraught with conflict. U.S. benchmark crude oil jumped $1.01 to $68.20 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the international standard, jumped $1.35 to $72.08 per barrel.
The political situation remained tense in South Korea as local media reported that the police were considering imposing an overseas travel ban on President Yoon Suk Yeol. Yoon’s status remained uncertain after he declared martial law last week in the midst of a budget dispute and then reversed that hours later.
The Kospi in Seoul slumped 2.8% to 2,360.58.
Chinese shares were mixed, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rebounding from early losses to gain 2.8% to 20,414.09. The Shanghai Composite index fell less than 0.1% to 3,402.53. Investors took heart from the state media’s readout from a meeting of the ruling Communist Party’s Politburo that pledged more support for the sluggish economy.
A major economic planning meeting later this week is expected to set the policy agenda for coming months, possibly bringing fresh stimulus for the world’s No. 2 economy.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index edged 0.2% higher, to 39,160.50 after the government reported that the economy expanded at a 1.2% annual rate in July to September, higher than the initial estimate of 0.9% growth.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was nearly unchanged at 8,423.00. India’s Sensex edged 0.1% lower, while Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.3%. In Bangkok, the SET was down 0.3%.
On Friday, U.S. stocks rose to records after data suggested the job market remains solid enough to keep the economy going, but not strong enough to raise immediate worries about inflation.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.2% to 6,090.27, just enough to log another all-time high, closing a third straight winning week in what looks to be one of its best years since the 2000 dot-com bust. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.3% to 44,642.52, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.8% to set its own record of 19,859.77.
The jobs report strengthened traders’ expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again at its next meeting in two weeks. It showed U.S. employers hired more workers than expected last month, but also said the unemployment rate unexpectedly ticked up to 4.2% from 4.1%.
The Fed has been easing its main interest rate from a two-decade high since September to offer more help for the slowing job market, after bringing inflation nearly all the way down to its 2% target. Lower interest rates can ease the brakes off the economy, but they can also offer more fuel for inflation.
The S&P 500 has set an all-time high 57 times so far this year.
For now, the hope is that the job market can help U.S. shoppers continue to spend and keep the U.S. economy out of a recession that had earlier seemed inevitable after the Fed began hiking interest rates swiftly to crush inflation.
A report on Friday suggested sentiment among U.S. consumers may be improving more than economists expected. The preliminary reading from the University of Michigan’s survey hit its highest level in seven months. The survey found a surge in buying for some products as consumers tried to get ahead of possible increases in price due to higher tariffs that President-elect Donald Trump has threatened.
In tech, Hewlett Packard Enterprise jumped 10.6% for one of the S&P 500’s larger gains after reporting stronger profit and revenue than expected. Tech stocks were some of the market’s strongest this week, as Salesforce and other big companies talked up how much of a boost they’re getting from the artificial-intelligence boom.
In other dealings early Friday, Bitcoin was sitting near $99,500 after bursting above $103,000 to a record the day before.
The euro rose to $1.0565 from $1.0561. The dollar was trading at 150.47 yen early Monday, up from 150.07 yen.
