Asian stocks higher led by Nikkei, China off until Monday

By FXStreet FXStreet (Mumbai) – Stocks on the Asian bourses kicked-off Thursday on a stronger note and rallied subsequently with the Nikkei emerging the biggest gainer, tracking the overnight gains on Wall Street and a weaker yen which boosted investor sentiment.

ASX bucks the trend, China closes for holiday

While the Australia’s benchmark, the ASX erased early gains and edged lower, ditching its other counterparts, after the retail and bank stocks were badly hit following the release of worse-than expected Australia’s retail sales data.

Retail sales declined 0.1% month-on-month in July after climbing a revised 0.6% in June, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), while markets had expected to see a 0.4% rise in July sales.

While the markets sentiment remained lifted as investors embraced risk as China’s volatile equity markets closed for the rest of the week on account of Victory day holiday.

Japan’s benchmark index, the Nikkei is rallying 1.42% at 18352 while the Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng index trades muted amid thin liquidity at 20,935, the benchmark Australian S&P/ASX 200 index is losing -0.53% at 5,074. While Korea’s benchmark Kospi index now trades +0.18% at 1,919 points in Seoul.
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Source:: FX Street