Asian Equities Mostly Higher, Japan's Nikkei 225 Breaks 40,000

Regional Asian Equities are mostly higher today, following on from the US on Friday. Tech names are the top performing sector in the region, Japan's Nikkei 225 break 40,000 for the first time while South Korea is back from their break on Friday.

• Japan equities continue to push higher after recently breaking all-time highs, markets are largely following the US markets move as there has been little in the way on local market headlines. The Nikkei 225 is now trading at 40,100 up 0.48% and importantly above psychological level of 40,000 level for the first time, while the TOPIX has lagged the move higher and still sits about 6% below it's all-time highs at 2,707 down 0.05%. Earlier Japan had Capital Spending data coming in at 16.4% vs 2.8% expected, while Monetary Base was 2.4% vs 4.8% prior
• South Korean equities are back from their break on Friday and are pushing higher, with the KOSPI up 1.35%. Electrical and electronic equipment stocks led the market higher after Dell surged 32% on Friday after better-than-expected results, fuelled by demand for information technology equipment. Foreign equity inflows are also picking back up, with $355m of inflows today. Earlier SK had industrial production data out coming in at 12.9% vs 10% expected, while S&P Global SK PMI was 50.7 vs 51.2 prior.
• Taiwan Equities are benefitting for higher semiconductor equity prices, after the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index closed up 4.29% on Friday. the Taiex is currently up 1.93%, looking forward Taiwan has CPI on Thursday.
• Australian equities were up 0.30% during the morning session, however Building approval data at -1.0% vs 4.0% expected pushed the market lower with Mining and Health Care sectors offsetting gains in the Financial and Real Estate sectors. While earlier Melbourne Institute Inflation was out showing inflation had eased substantially to 4.00% vs 4.6% in January the lowest since April 2022. The ASX 200 finished down 0.13%.
• Elsewhere in SEA equities are mixed, with NZ closing down 0.17%, Indonesian equities down 0.16%, Singapore down 0.35% while Malaysian equities up 0.37% and Philippines equities up 1.18% are the top performers.