Asian stocks open week's first session with mixed performance

Asian stocks opened for the first trading session of the week on mixed performance but mostly positive, as the Japanese and Chinese stocks in addition to Hong Kong's Hang Seng and South Korea's Kospi Index rose, while the Australian and New Zealand's stocks fell, ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia meeting minutes release on Tuesday.

The markets are also looking forward to the lunch of the FOMC meeting tomorrow and Wednesday in Washington, where interest rates are expected to be kept between 2.25% and 2.50% for the fourth meeting in a row, amid speculations around the committee to reveal its forecasts for the inflation and unemployment in addition to the future interest rates for the next three years, before we see the forthcoming press conference of the Federal Reserve Governor, Jerome Powell.

We would like to point out that the Federal Reserve Governor Powell recently expressed the Federal Reserve is uncertain about how and when the trade tensions will be resolved, noting that the Federal Commission takes the inflationary pressures for an extended period seriously, which may affect inflation forecasts later, which has also raise expectations around the Federal Reserve abandonment of its patience policy and for an interest rates cut on federal funds in the coming period.

Japanese stock indices saw a variation in performance during today's trading session, with the broader Topix index falling by 0.13% to lose 2.06 points down to the level of 1,544.65, while the main Nikkei 225 index rose 0.22% (47.37 points) up to 21,164.26.

As for the Chinese stock indices, it rose during the trading session, with CSI 300 index rising 0.52% to win 18.85 points up to 3,673.73, and the Shanghai index rose by 0.47% (13.59 points) to 2,895.57.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 1.23% to 332.38 points, reaching 27,450.73, and South Korea's Kospi Index rose 0.03% to 0.60 points, up to 2,096.01.

To the New Zealand NZX 50 index, which fell 0.17% to lose 17.01 points and reach 10,218.36. On the other hand, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index shed 0.26% to lose 17.10 points and reached 6,536.90.