Mixed Asian stocks, thin trading, as many markets remain closed by Investing.com

Author: Gina Lee

Investing.com – Asia Pacific shares were mixed on Monday morning, and on the first trading day of 2022 there was little trading in some markets.

South Korea rose 0.37% to 21:58 ET (2:58 GMT). Data released earlier today showed that it was 51.9 in December, up from 50.9 the previous month.

Hong Kong was down 0.28% and the Chinese, Australian and Japanese markets were closed for the holidays. There will be no trade in the US Treasury in Asia on Monday.

Traders “Feelings can try to ride the Santa Claus rally to give a positive start to the first trading day of 2022,” said Jun Rong Yeap, IG Asia’s market strategist.

“While the rise of COVID in Omicron is spreading, if a cautious reopening approach is needed, there may be some hope that improving vaccines will help limit the economic impact.”

Omicron-induced outbreaks continue from China to the U.S., with a total of 290 million cases as of Jan. 3, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Investor attention was in China Evergrande Group (HK :), whose shares in Hong Kong were suspended from trading on the same day. The indebted real estate developer did not give any reason for the suspension.

However, Chinese real estate developer Cifi Holdings has offered to buy a 5.5% bond from China’s Evergrand in 2022. The bid was $ 1,000.5, the principal amount for every $ 1,000 plus interest accrued and unpaid, according to statements made by Cifi Holdings to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. . Offer to purchase $ 505.1 million banknotes due to expire at 16:00 in London on January 7th.

Investors are waiting for China’s Caixin and PMI later this week.