Asia shrugs off testy incidents
tokyo — Shares were higher Monday in Asia, despite worries of disruptions from the “WannaCry” ransomware cyberattack over the weekend. Yet another missile launch by North Korea also appeared to have little impact, while upbeat talk on trade and infrastructure investment at a top-level conference in China brightened sentiment.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index slipped 0.1 per cent to 19,869.85, falling back after early gains. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index added 0.7 per cent to 25,282.12 and the Shanghai Composite index rose 0.3 per cent to 3,092.83. Australia’s S&P ASX 200 was nearly unchanged at 5,838.40. The Kospi of South Korea climbed 0.2 per cent to 2,290.65. Shares in Taiwan and Southeast Asia were mostly higher.
The global ransomware cyberattack, unprecedented in scale, ha technicians scrambling to secure the computers that run factories, banks, government agencies and transport systems in many other nations. Fresh troubles were reported in Asia as businesses reopened on Monday, but the scale of the impact from the effort to extort cash from computer users was still unclear.
“The state of geopolitics and the global economy makes you ‘WannaCry’,” said a commentary from Mizuho Bank in Singapore. “And North Korea’s mid-to-long range missile test on Sunday is also regrettable, denting some of the optimism around South Korea’s newlyminted President Moon, whose more conciliatory approach to the North was seen as a positive. Admittedly, risks of imminent confrontation are not elevated, but this is nevertheless a reminder that geo-political risks continue to linger in the background.” Shares of department stores sank Friday, hurt by more evidence that shoppers are turning away from them. The S&P 500 dipped 0.1 per cent to 2,390.90, part of a 0.3 per cent loss for the week. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.1 per cent to 20,896.61 and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.1 per cent to 6,121.23. Benchmark US crude oil gained 85¢ to $48.69 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude jumped $1.00 to $51.84 a barrel.
The dollar was steady at ¥113.59 and the euro rose to $1.0936 from $1.0932. —