Investing.com– Most Asian stocks rose on Monday as investors piled into cyclical stocks heading into the last week of November, while focus turned to a slew of upcoming economic readings, including China’s industrial data and India’s third-quarter GDP.
Sentiment was also buoyed by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of prominent investor Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary, with Bessent seen holding a much more moderate view on trade tariffs.
Regional markets tracked Friday’s gains on Wall Street, where demand for economically sensitive sectors saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average close at a new high, and S&P 500 mark its fifth winning day in a row.
U.S. stock index futures rose in Asian trade, tracking optimism over Bessent’s appointment. Bond yields also fell after his appointment, lending stocks more space to rise.
Investors shrugged off risk worries induced by heightened tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Moscow launched an advanced hypersonic missile on a Ukrainian facility last week and threatened nuclear retaliation for Kyiv’s use of Western-made, long-range missiles.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index added 1.2%, while the TOPIX rose 1%. Both indexes logged weekly losses last week.
South Korea’s KOSPI rose 1.4%, while Indonesian shares, specifically the Jakarta Stock Exchange Composite Index jumped 1.7%.
Bucking the trend, China’s Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 and Shanghai Composite indexes were down 0.6% and 0.4%, respectively. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shed 0.4%.
Futures for India’s Nifty 50 index pointed to strong open. Reuters reported that Adani dollar bond prices fell to almost one-year lows on Monday as investors cut their exposure to the Indian conglomerate in the wake of bribery and fraud allegations from U.S. authorities.
