Asia’s benchmark stock index swung between gains and losses as investors weighed data showing Chinese exports rose more than analysts projected last month, while imports unexpectedly fell.
SoftBank Corp. climbed 2.6 percent as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., in which the Japanese phone carrier holds a stake, prepares for a record-breaking initial public offering. Bank of East Asia Ltd. added 0.9 percent after Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. sought to buy additional shares in the Hong Kong lender. Rakuten Inc. slumped 4.2 percent after the owner of Japan’s largest online mall said it’s in talks to buy U.S. website operator Ebates Shopping.com Inc.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was little changed at 148.45 as of 10:23 a.m. in Hong Kong, amid holidays across the region, after rising and falling 0.1 percent. The gauge advanced 0.4 percent last week on data showing faster growth in China’s service industries and U.S. manufacturing. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index closed last week at an all-time high even after a report showed the slowest payrolls growth this year.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 0.5 percent. Singapore’s Straits Times Index lost 0.1 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 0.3 percent. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index added 0.1 percent. Markets in China, South Korea and Taiwan are closed for a holiday.
Japan’s Topix index rose 0.4 percent. Gross domestic product contracted an annualized 7.1 percent in the three months through June, more than a preliminary reading of a 6.8 percent fall, the Cabinet Office said today in Tokyo. The median forecast of 25 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 7 percent drop.