South Korea stocks surged on Monday after the country re-imposed a ban on short selling, while most Asia-Pacific markets took heart from a soft U.S. jobs report that helped reduce interest rate expectations.
Financial authorities in South Korea said short selling will be banned until the end of June 2024. Short selling is when a trader sells borrowed shares to buy back at a lower price and pocket the difference.
U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased by 150,000 in October, lower than the Dow Jones consensus forecast for a 170,000 rise. This eased worries that the Federal Reserve will continues to hike interest rates.
Japan’s business activity expanded in October but at its softest pace this year, according to a private survey.
South Korea’s Kospi jumped 5.66% to close at 2,502.37, and the Kosdaq soared 7.34% to end at 839.45. Both indexes closed out their best session since late March 2020.
Returning from a long weekend, Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 2.37% at 32,708.48, while the Topix added 1.64% to hit its highest level in over one month at 2,360.46.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 1.77% in the final hour of trading. Mainland China’s CSI 300 index gained 1.35% to close at 3,632.61.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.28% higher at 6,997.40.
U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday after a soft jobs report drove bond yields lower, and the major indexes registered their best week so far in 2023.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.94% and notched its first five-day advance since June.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained over 200 points to rise 0.66%, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.38%.
— CNBC’s Sarah Min and Brian Evans contributed to this report.
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