Crowds walk below neon signs on Nanjing Road. The street is the main shopping district of the city and one of the world’s busiest shopping districts.
Nikada | E+ | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets climbed on Monday, with investors keeping a close watch on Chinese equities.
The Chinese government on Sunday announced that it would take steps to revive consumption by boosting people’s incomes, state media Xinhua News Agency reported, citing a statement from the State Council.
Other measures included plans to stabilize the stock and real estate market and raising the country’s birth rate, the report added.
Investors will be parsing through a swathe of data points from China on Monday, including industrial production, urban investment, retail sales and urban unemployment rate.
A Reuters poll forecasts a 3.6% year-on-year growth in the country’s urban investment rate in January and February, up from 3.2% in the preceding months. A separate poll predicts a 4% expansion in retail sales in February, from 3.7% in January.
In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 started the day 0.99% higher, while the broader Topix index rose 1.10%.
South Korea’s Kospi index advanced 1.23% at the open, while the small-cap Kosdaq added 0.32%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was last seen trading up 0.62%.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 24,217 pointing to a stronger open compared to the HSI’s close of 23,959.98
In the U.S., stocks rallied and clawed back some of the week’s losses on Friday following much-needed reprieve from news surrounding tariffs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 674.62 points, or 1.65%, to close at 41,488.19. The S&P 500 climbed 2.13% to end at 5,638.94, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 2.61% to settle at 17,754.09. It was the best day in 2025 for both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.
Big tech shares that were rattled earlier this week saw a sharp recovery on Friday. Nvidia shares popped more than 5%. Tesla jumped nearly 4%, and Meta Platforms gained close to 3%. Amazon and Apple also rose.
— CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Alex Harring contributed to this report.
Upbeat outlook for Chinese companies, Standard Chartered strategist says
The outlook for Chinese companies appears upbeat amid robust government support, according to Fook Hien Yap, senior investment strategist at Standard Chartered Bank.
“I think in terms of the policies that [are] being rolled out, the support of the government for the private companies there are very good,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Monday.
His comments come shortly after fresh plans from the Chinese government to revive consumption by boosting wages, rising birth rates and stabilizing the stock and real estate market.
The strategist is playing the market with an “overweight or barbell” approach in tech stocks on Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Tech Index as well as “high dividend” non-financial state-owned enterprises.
“What we’ve seen has been a lot of valuation re-rating in terms of the Hang Seng technology and China technology — and the valuation is still attractive,” Fook Hien Yap said.
— Amala Balakrishner