CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Monday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, as traders remain cautious after renewed hostilities in the Middle East over the weekend. However, the U.S. and Iran have now agreed to halt military strikes against each other and meet on Tuesday in Doha, Qatar, to resolve tensions over the Strait of Hormuz. Asian markets closed mostly lower on Friday.
Earlier, Iran had attacked commercial vessels in the Gulf, prompting U.S. strikes on Iran's air defense sites, drone facilities and mine-laying capabilities. Iran retaliated with strikes on U.S. bases in Bahrain and Kuwait before both sides agreed to halt strikes and meet this week.
The Australian stock market is slightly higher on Monday, extending the gains in the previous session, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is moving well above the 8,750.00 level, with gains across most sectors led by gold miners and technology stocks.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 5.90 points or 0.07 percent to 8,770.10, after touching a high of 8,805.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 10.60 points or 0.12 percent to 8,974.80. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Friday.
Among the major miners, Fortescue and BHP Group are edging up 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Rio Tinto is edging down 0.3 percent and Mineral Resources is losing almost 2 percent.
Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy, Santos and Woodside Energy are edging up 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while Origin Energy is losing almost 1 percent.
Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block and WiseTech Global are surging almost 5 percent each, while Zip is soaring almost 8 percent, Appen is gaining more than 1 percent and Xero is jumping more than 6 percent.
Gold miners are mostly higher. Newmont and Resolute Mining are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Genesis Minerals is advancing almost 3 percent, Evolution Mining is adding more than 2 percent and Northern Star Resources is up almost 1 percent.
Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and National Australia Bank are gaining almost 1 percent each, while ANZ Banking is edging up 0.2 percent.
In other news, shares in Neuren Pharmaceuticals are skyrocketing more than 27 percent as its Rett syndrome drug Daybu moved a step closer to European approval after the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use recommended the treatment for marketing authorisation.
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.689 on Monday.
The Japanese stock market is trading notably lower on Monday, extending the sharp losses in the previous session, following the broadly negative from Wall Street on Friday, with the Nikkei 225 falling well below the 68,900 level, with weakness in index heavyweights, exporters, technology and financial stocks partially offset by gains in automaker stocks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 68,869.43, down 491.45 points or 0.71 percent, after hitting a low of 67,997.57 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Friday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is sliding almost 6 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.5 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining more than 1 percent and Toyota is edging up 0.2 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is declining almost 4 percent and Screen Holdings is losing more than 2 percent, while Tokyo Electron is edging up 0.2 percent.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are losing almost 1 percent each.
The major exporters are mostly lower. Mitsubishi Electric is losing more than 1 percent, Canon is down more than 1 percent and Panasonic is slipping more than 4 percent, while Sony is adding more than 2 percent.
Among the other major losers, Fujikura and Kioxia Holdings are tumbling more than 5 percent each, while Lasertec is slipping more than 4 percent and Ibiden is declining almost 4 percent. Sumitomo Electric Industries and Sumitomo Metal Mining are losing more than 3 percent each, while Mitsubishi Materials and Denka are declining almost 3 percent each.
Conversely, SHIFT is soaring more than 10 percent, BayCurrent is jumping more than 8 percent and Taiyo Yuden is surging almost 8 percent, while Trend Micro, Nomura Research Institute and NEC are advancing more than 6 percent each. Aeon, Tokio Marine, Mercari and LY are gaining almost 5 percent each, while Shiseido and CyberAgent are adding more than 4 percent each. Nintendo, Rakuten Group and BANDAI NAMCO are up almost 4 percent each.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 161 yen-range on Monday.
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea is down 2.4 percent, while China, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia are lower by between 0.2 and 0.7 percent each. Hong Kong is up 1.5 percent, while New Zealand and Taiwan are up 0.3 and 1.0 percent, respectively.
On Wall Street, stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Friday but largely maintained a negative bias before ending the day lower.
The Dow lost 44.49 points or 0.1 percent to 51,876.11, the Nasdaq decreased 60.98 points or 0.2 percent to 25,297.62 and the S&P 500 slipped 3.47 points or 0.1 percent to 7,354.02.
The major European markets also ended the day in the negative. The UK's FTSE 100 ended lower by 0.21 percent, Germany's DAX dropped 1.29 percent and France's CAC 40 shed 0.55 percent.
Crude oil prices tumbled on Friday as optimism increases on resumption of oil flow from the Arab region. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery was down $2.60 or 3.62 percent at $69.32 per barrel.
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