Asian stocks rose; shares in Japan and China saw gains

Asia-Pacific stocks increased on September 6, with shares in Japan and China seeing big gains.

Remarkably, Japan’s Nikkei 225 was among the biggest gainers regionally, soaring 1.83% to close at 29,659.89. That added to its rise of 2.05% on September 3 after Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced he will not be running in the upcoming leadership election. Meanwhile, the Topix rose by 1.24%.

Mainland Chinese stocks also witnessed substantial gains on the day. The Shanghai Composite advanced 1.12% to settle at 3,621.86, and the Shenzhen component surged 2.586% to hit 14,546.60. Additionally, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index climbed around 0.9% as of its final hour of trading.

Furthermore, South Korea’s Kospi ended the trading day fractionally higher at 3,203.33. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 closed around 0.1% higher at 7,528.50.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares, excluding Japan, increased 0.56%. 

Moreover, U.S. jobs data published on Friday came in far short of expectations. Friday’s data showed that the economy added just 235,000 positions in August. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been expecting 720,000 new hires.

At the same time, the unemployment rate sank to 5.2% from 5.4%, in line with estimates.

Additionally, U.S. markets are closed on September 6 for the Labor Day holiday.

Shares of more than 60 little-traded mainland Chinese stocks rose by at least 10%

Another essential thing to mention is that shares of more than 60 little-traded mainland Chinese stocks briefly rose by at least 10% Monday. The increase came as investors bet on the firms’ potential inclusion in a new Beijing stock exchange.

Chinese President Xi Jinping reported on Thursday that Beijing would launch the country’s third stock exchange in order to help small and medium-sized businesses raise capital.

This pool of 66 select stocks all increased in Monday afternoon trading, with nearly a third briefly rising around 30%. Only five of the firms have market caps of over $1 billion. Meanwhile, daily trading volume per stock was in the millions of yuan on September 6, compared with hundreds of millions of yuan for the biggest stocks traded on the mainland.

Remarkably, metal sheet manufacturer Speedbird, specialized rubber products manufacturer Tongyi Aerospace and packaged food firm Zhulaoliu were among the top 10 advancers.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 74.73 points to settle at 35,369.09. The S&P 500 stood at 4,535.43, while the Nasdaq Composite index gained 32.34 to settle at 15,363.52.

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