Asian markets in red as Chinese parliament kicks off annual meeting

Asian markets traded mostly in red territory on Monday as the Chinese political elite prepared for an annual parliament meeting while market players looked ahead to fresh economic data.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dropped nearly one percent in late trading hours, while the Topix index eased almost the same. The Kospi was also down one percent.

Sydney’s ASX 200 declined 0.66 percent, with financials weighing on the benchmark: ANZ down 0.81 percent, Commonwealth Bank plunged 1.03 percent, Westpac dropped 1.51 percent and the National Australia Bank fell 0.8 percent.

Meanwhile, Chinese stock markets headed south, with the Shanghai composite down 0.16 percent and the Shenzhen composite adding a moderate 0.11 percent.

On Monday, China's National People's Congress kicked off its annual meeting. Premier Li Keqiang said the growth target for 2018 is a 6.5 percent rate. This encounter is typically associated with the pass of several bills, budget approval and career development.

Last week, Wall Street top three indexes ended mixed as market players continued to weigh consequences of President Donald Trump’s announcement regarding an increase of steel and aluminum import tariffs.

The Dow Jones industrial average notched down 70.92 points to close at 24,538.06 after plunging nearly 400 points. The S&P 500 was able to secure a 0.5 percent gain at 2,691.25, while the Nasdaq composite added 1.1 percent to 7,257.87.

Meanwhile in Europe, the DAX is likely to start this week with the right foot as Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) offered their support to form a coalition government with Chancellor Angela Merkel, reducing political uncertainty in Europe’s first economy.

<<< Asian Stock Indexes >>>

Australia ASX S&P -32.00 -0.53% 5,996.40

Shanghai Composite -4.07 -0.13% 3,250.46

Hong Kong Hang Seng -430.95 -1.41% 30,152.50

Japan Nikkei 225 -212.81 -1.00% 20,968.83

Taiwan TSEC 50 Index -37.64 -0.35% 10,660.53

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Ahead in the day, the German and Eurozone services PMI indexes for Feb will be out as of 08:55 GMT and 09:00 GMT, with 57.0 and 57.6 readings seen respectively. The UK will unveil its PMI for the services sector at 09:30 GMT. EU retail sales for January are due at 10:00 GMT.

FortFS