Asian stocks open mostly down

Asian stocks opened with a mixed performance but mostly negative on Thursday, as the Japanese stock indices were diversified, while the Australian, New Zealand stock and the South Korean Kospi index fell, as the Chinese stocks and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose after several economic data updates, ahead of the launch of the EU summit in Brussels amid hopes of for a final Brexit deal.

We also followed the speech of the RBA Deputy Governor, Guy Debelle, at the CFA Societies Australia Investment Conference, in Sydney, after  the release of the Australian housing market data and the unemployment rate which fell to 5.2% vs. August's reading and market forecasts of 5.3%.

Additionally, the Australian employment change showed a contraction to 14.7K vs. 37.9K in August, below forecasts of 15.3K, while the full-time employment change rose to 26.2K vs. a decline of 13.2K, as the part-time employment change declined to 11.4K vs. 51.1K, the NAB business confidence survey also showed a decline to -2 in Q3 vs. 5 in Q1.

Otherwise, President Donald Trump said yesterday that the trade agreement with China is ready and they're currently preparing the trade deal text, and noted that it will not be signed until he meets his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping next month in Chile, added that China has began purchasing US agricultural products.

The US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also stated yesterday that US and Chinese trade negotiators are preparing the trade deal text to be signed by their presidents next month at Chile, and added that there are no plans for another high-level meeting.

The Japanese stocks sawa mixed performance today, as Topix fell by 0.21% or 3.35 points to 1,628.16 points, and Nikkei 225 jumped 0.14% or 31.05 points to 22,503.97.

While the Chinese stocks rose during sessions, as the CSI 300 index gained 0.5% or 5.69 points to 3,928.38, and the Shanghai Composite index rose by 0.05% or 1.43 points to 2,980.15.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index also rose by 0.75% or 199.92 points to 26,864.20, while the South Korean Kospi shed 0.12% or 2.43 points to 2,080.40.

To New Zealand's NZX 50, which fell by 0.22% or 24.66 points to 11,153.98, and the Australian S&P/ASX 200 fell by 0.61% or 40.94 points to 6,695.60.