Japan Stocks Rebound Even As Ruling Party Loses Majority, Yen Drops: Asia Markets Wrap

Stocks in Japan bounced back after a lower open as traders weighed on the potential political instability after Shigeru Ishiba's coalition failed to win a majority in parliament for the first time since 2009. Meanwhile, yen fell to its lowest level in three months.

Equity benchmarks in South Korea and Australia were trading higher during the open. Australia's S&P ASX 200 was three points, or 0.04%, higher at 8,214, while the Japanese Nikkei 225 was up 345 points, or 0.89%, at 38,237 as of 5:40 a.m.

Ishiba's decision to call for a snap election backfired as a poll by public broadcaster NHK showed that the Liberal Democratic Party fell short of forming a majority government, Bloomberg News reported. NHK said that the LDP may now seek partners to form a government, as voters were discontent with the party's slush-fund scandal.

Japanese yen fell as much as 0.6% to 153.27 per dollar on Monday, the lowest level in almost three months.

Meanwhile, Chinese stocks will be in focus as recent data exaggerated concerns of a slowing economy along with deflationary pressures. The profit at industrial firms in September fell at a faster pace than a month earlier, data on Sunday showed.

After a barrage of stimulus, China's top body will hold another meeting in Beijing from Nov. 4 to Nov. 8 with investors expecting further fiscal support to revive the economy.

On the commodity front, crude oil prices plunged after Israel retaliated to strike military targets across Iran early Saturday. The strike, however, avoided oil, nuclear and civilian infrastructure sites.

Brent crude was trading 4.09% lower at $72.94 a barrel as of 6:00 a.m. IST. West Texas Intermediate was down 4.22% at $68.75.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 saw its first weekly decline since early September as banks dragged down the broader market. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.03% and 0.61%, respectively, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.56%.

In the week ahead, five of the biggest companies in the S&P 500 Index by market capitalisation including Alphabet Inc., Meta Platforms Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. will report their third-quarter earings. They are projected to post average earnings growth of 19% in their third-quarter results, Bloomberg News reported.