China’s Shanghai composite jumps 2% after returning from Lunar New Year holidays in mixed Asia trading

Shares in Asia-Pacific were mixed in Monday trade, with mainland China markets rising as they reopened following the Lunar New Year holidays last week. In afternoon trade, the Shanghai composite jumped 2.06% while the Shenzhen component gained 1.001%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slipped 0.33%. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dipped 0.76% while the Topix index declined 0.27%. South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.43%. Elsewhere, the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia fell 0.13%. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.26%. Investors continued to monitor the situation around Ukraine, with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan warning Sunday that a Russian invasion could be imminent.

Currencies and oil

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 95.559 after its recent decline from above 95.9. The Japanese yen traded at 115.34 per dollar, following last week’s weakening from levels below 114.4 against the greenback. The Australian dollar was at $0.7082, off levels above $0.714 seen last week. Oil prices were mixed in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures up 0.32% to $93.57 per barrel. U.S. crude futures, on the other hand, slipped 0.26% to $92.07 per barrel.