Asian stocks rose on Monday amid bets that global central banks will start cutting interest rates next year to support an uneven economic recovery.<\/p>\n
The upside, however, remained capped ahead of key quarterly earnings from NVIDIA Corp. and the release of the Federal Reserve’s minutes from its November meeting this week.<\/p>\n
The dollar held below over two-month lows and gold was unchanged, while oil extended Friday’s rally on expectations of production cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia in the coming days.<\/p>\n
China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.5 percent to 3,068.32 after the country’s central bank kept its loan prime rate near record lows, as widely expected, and added liquidity into markets<\/span> via reverse repos.<\/p>\n Property stocks rebounded after China’s central bank and financial regulators pledged on Friday to ensure financing support for the beleaguered real estate sector.<\/p>\n Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index jumped 1.9 percent to 17,778.07 after two days of steep losses.<\/p>\n Japanese shares reversed course to end lower, dragged down by automakers and chip-related stocks.<\/p>\n The Nikkei 225 Index briefly hit a 33-year high before ending down 0.6 percent at 33,388.03 due to profit taking after recent strong gains.<\/p>\n The broader Topix Index settled 0.8 percent lower at 2,372.60. Honda Motor and Toyota both fell around 4 percent amid the yen’s gains against the dollar.<\/p>\n Semiconductor test equipment supplier Advantest dropped 1.6 percent and Tokyo Electron declined 0.9 percent.<\/p>\n Panasonic Holdings jumped 5 percent to extend Friday’s rally after announcing a sale of a stake in its automotive systems business<\/span>.<\/p>\n Casualty insurer Tokio Marine Holdings surged 5.6 percent on share buyback news.<\/p>\n Seoul stocks advanced, with the Kospi finishing 0.9 percent higher at 2,491.20. SK Hynix, which supplies memory chips, gained 1.2 percent.<\/p>\n Australian markets ended slightly higher as investors awaited the release of minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s November meeting on Tuesday for clues on the central bank’s policy stance.<\/p>\n The benchmark S&P ASX 200 Index edged up 0.1 percent to 7,058.40, led by banks and energy stocks. The broader All Ordinaries Index closed 0.1 percent higher at 7,268.70.<\/p>\n Across the Tasman, New Zealand’s benchmark S&P NZX-50 Index closed up 0.3 percent at 11,207.46.<\/p>\n