Business

Asian shares lower as investors await Japan stimulus details

Posted August 01, 2016 7:00 am

By TERESA CEROJANO

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Asian shares were mostly lower Tuesday as investors watched for details of a Japanese fiscal stimulus package. The recent decline in oil prices also weighed on trading.

KEEPING SCORE: Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 0.7 percent at 16,522.47. Australia's S&P ASX 200 slid 0.4 percent at 5,579.76. China's Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.1 percent at 2,956.74. South Korea's Kospi lost 0.5 percent at 2,019.70. Most Southeast Asian markets were down. Hong Kong's stock market was closed in the morning due to a typhoon.

JAPAN STIMULUS PACKAGE: The Japanese Cabinet was due later Tuesday to approve Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's proposal, announced last week, of a 28 trillion yen ($272 billion) package of measures to help rev up the lagging economic recovery. Economists have noted that much of the money listed in the package may be already in the pipeline and massive construction projects have so far done little to sustain stronger growth.

ANALYST VIEWPOINT: Japanese stocks opened lower, "with a focus on the details of the 28 trillion yen stimulus," said Chris Weston, chief market strategist with IG. "In terms of genuine fiscal stimulus measures the devil is in the details."

WALL STREET: U.S. stocks wobbled and finished mostly lower Monday as the price of oil continued to nosedive thanks to the strong dollar. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.2 percent to 18,404.51. The S&P 500 lost 0.1 percent to 2,170.84. The Nasdaq composite gained 0.4 percent to 5,184.20. The Dow and S&P 500 set all-time highs recently and the Nasdaq is within 1 percent of the record it set in July 2015.

OIL: Benchmark U.S. crude gained 13 cents to $40.19 after settling at $40.06 a barrel in New York on Monday. Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, rose 23 cents to $42.37 a barrel in London, after closing at $42.14 a barrel the day before. As of Monday, the price of oil had fallen 13 percent in a little more than two weeks.

CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 102.60 yen from 102.39 the previous day. The euro rose to $1.1172 from $1.1166 on Monday.

People walk past an electronic stock indicator of a securities firm in Tokyo, Monday, Aug. 1, 2016. Shares were higher Monday in Asia, as investors shrugged off disappointing growth data from the U.S. and lackluster but better-than-expected manufacturing figures for China. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi) The Associated Press

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