CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stock markets are mixed on Monday after the sell-off on Wall Street Friday as weak economic data and U.S.-China trade tensions raised worries about global economic growth. Investors are cautious as they now look ahead to key central bank meetings later this week.
The U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision is due on Wednesday, while the Bank of Japan and the Bank of England will announce their monetary policy decisions on Thursday.
The Australian market recovered after a weak start and is higher. Gains by mining stocks were offset by weakness in banks and oil stocks.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is adding 33.40 points or 0.60 percent to 5,635.40, after touching a low of 5,585.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 32.70 points or 0.58 percent to 5,711.50. Australian stocks closed lower on Friday.
The major miners are rising on higher iron ore prices and on their plans to return cash to shareholders. BHP and Rio Tinto are advancing more than 1 percent, while Fortescue Metals is up almost 1 percent.
BHP said it will pay another $5.2 billion to shareholders from the sale of its onshore U.S. assets through a special dividend of $1.02 per share on January 11, having already completed a $5.2 billion share buyback.
Rio Tinto said it has completed the $500 million sale of its French aluminium smelter, freeing up cash the mining giant said it will return to shareholders.
Gold miners are mixed after gold prices edged lower on Friday. Evolution Mining is up 0.3 percent, while Newcrest Mining is down 0.2 percent.
In the banking sector, ANZ Banking is losing more than 2 percent, while National Australia Bank and Westpac are lower by more than 1 percent each, and Commonwealth Bank is down 0.7 percent.
Oil stocks are also weak after crude oil prices fell on Friday. Oil Search is declining more than 1 percent, Woodside Petroleum is lower by 1 percent and Santos is down 0.6 percent.
Austal has won a contract to make another two combat vessels for the U.S. Navy, bringing the shipbuilder's forward order book to 10 ships by 2025. Austal's shares are rising more than 3 percent.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar is edging lower against the U.S. dollar on Monday. The local currency was quoted at $0.7174, down from $0.7193 on Friday.
The Japanese market is modestly higher despite the sell off on Wall Street and a stronger yen. Nevertheless, gains are modest as investors turned cautious ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision due on Wednesday and the Bank of Japan's decision due on Thursday.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is adding 83.51 points or 0.39 percent to 21,458.34, after rising to a high of 21,563.27 earlier. Japanese stocks ended lower on Friday despite a fairly decent Tankan survey report.
The major exporters are mostly higher despite a stronger yen. Mitsubishi Electric is advancing almost 2 percent, Canon is adding 0.7 percent and Panasonic is up 0.2 percent, while Sony is down 0.3 percent.
In the tech sector, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are rising more than 2 percent each. Among the major automakers, Honda is adding 0.6 percent and Toyota is up 0.4 percent.
In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is rising 0.6 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is adding almost 1 percent. In the oil space, Inpex is declining more than 1 percent and Japan Petroleum is losing more than 2 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Showa Denko and Tokyo Electric Power are advancing almost 2 percent each, while Kansai Electric Power and Fujifilm Holdings are rising more than 1 percent each.
On the flip side, Yahoo Japan is losing more than 4 percent and Chiyoda Corp. is lower by 3 percent. Sumitomo Dainippon, Ube Industries, Oki Electric and Recruit Holdings are down more than 2 percent each.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the mid 113 yen-range on Monday.
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan are also higher, while Shanghai, New Zealand, Indonesia and Malaysia are lower.
On Wall Street, stocks closed sharply lower on Friday amid renewed concerns about the outlook for global economic growth following the release of data showing disappointing industrial output and retail sales growth in China.
The Dow plunged 496.87 points or 2 percent to 24,100.51, the Nasdaq nosedived 159.67 points or 2.3 percent to 6,910.67 and the S&P 500 plummeted 50.59 points or 1.9 percent to 2,599.95.
The major European markets also moved to the downside on Friday. While the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 0.9 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index both fell by 0.5 percent.
Crude oil futures tumbled Friday on global economic growth concerns. WTI crude for January delivery tumbled $1.38 or 2.6 percent to $51.20 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX