Asian stocks: China data, trade pessimism stop buyers from following Wall Street

• Asian traders fail to follow Wall Street’s gains as markets turn cautious ahead of the key events.
• China’s trade numbers, US-China tussle drag most shares, NIKKEI benefits from Japan’s GDP.
• Key monetary policy meetings, UK election, the trade war will be in focus for the week.

Asian share traders had to bear the burden of weekend data and stories that dim prospects of the phase-one deal between the United States (US) and China. As a result, MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gains 0.18% while heading into the European open on Monday. On the other hand, Japan’s NIKKEI register nearly 0.30% of gains after the third quarter (Q3) Gross Domestic Product (GDP) surged past preliminary forecast and market consensus.

Among the data, China’s November month trade numbers played their roles. Further, Beijing’s restriction to use foreign computers and software to government offices, coupled with Hong Kong’s latest protests, keeps trade war fears on the cards ahead of the deadline on China’s goods from the US. This mainly led the Chinese and Hong Kong equities south whereas markets in Australia and New Zealand cheered increasing odds of further monetary policy stimulus from China.

Looking forward, India’s BSE SENSEX registers 0.25% gains to 40,545 while Philippines’ PSEi Composite drops three points to 7,798 by the time of writing. Moving on, Indonesia’s IDX Composite marks 0.10% profits while Korea’s KOSPI manages +0.34% gain.

Market’s risk tone stays mostly sluggish with the US 10-year treasury yields taking rounds to 1.84% while S&P 500 Futures losing 0.16% to 3,141.

On Friday, upbeat employment and consumer sentiment numbers propelled the Wall Street benchmarks to record highs.

Monetary policy meetings by the central banks of the US, Europe and the Philippines will join elections in the United Kingdom (UK) and US-China trade war, considering December 15 US tariff deadline, to entertain global market players this week. While most central banks are widely expected not to alter their present monetary policies, events surrounding the UK, the US and China are something that questions the challenge trade sentiment.