Today's Edition
Beijing (dpa-AFX)
Asian stocks ended mixed in thin trade on Monday after US President Donald Trump said he had no plans to talk to his Chinese counterpart this week.
Trump also told NBC's "Meet the Press with Kristen Welker" that the tariffs announced in recent weeks would remain in some form to convince businesses to move production to the US. He also announced a new 100% tariff on movies produced outside the US, saying that Hollywood and other areas are "being devastated" due to "a concerted effort by other nations."
Regional trade volumes were thin as markets in Japan, Hong Kong, mainland China, and South Korea were closed for public holidays.
A weaker dollar helped lift gold prices in Asian trading while oil prices plunged after the OPEC+ group of oil-producing nations said it plans to increase output.
Australian markets fell sharply, with energy stocks leading losses as WTI crude futures sank more than 3% on oversupply concerns after a bold Saudi-led move to reorder the global oil market with an aggressive ramp-up of OPEC+ supply.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.97% to 8,157.80, after having climbed 2.4% over the past five sessions.
The broader All Ordinaries index shed 0.97% to close at 8,374. Beach Energy, Santos, Karoon Energy, and Woodside Energy all lost around 4%. Lender Westpac declined 3% after its interim earnings for the first half of 2025 failed to impress.
India's Sensex was up 0.4% and Indonesia's Jakarta Composite index was up 0.9%.
US stocks rose sharply on Friday and Treasury yields rose, with sentiment boosted by a stronger-than-expected report on the job market and some de-escalation in Sino-US trade tensions.
The S&P 500 surged 1.5% to end higher for the ninth consecutive session, marking its longest winning streak in over 20 years. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite also rose 1.5% while the Dow added 1.4%.
Data showed US non-farm payroll employment shot up by 177,000 jobs in April compared to expectations for an increase of about 130,000 jobs.
The unemployment rate came in unchanged at 4.2%, matching economist estimates while jobs growth in February and March was downwardly revised to 102,000 jobs and 185,000 jobs, respectively, reflecting a net downward revision of 58,000 jobs.
