BREAKING - Asian Stocks Up Over Signing of World’s Largest Regional Free-Trade Agreement

Asia Pacific stocks were up on Monday morning in Asia, starting the week on a positive note in the region over the signing of the world’s largest regional free-trade agreement.

Fifteen countries signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership trade deal on Sunday, the final day of the 37th Asean Summit which was hosted by Vietnam virtually due to the COVID-19 virus.

“(The) agreement ... signals that Asia keeps pushing ahead with trade liberalization even as other regions have become more skeptical,” HSBC economists Frederic Neumann and Shanella Rajanayagam said in a note.

“As such, it may reinforce a trend that’s been already underway for decades: that the global center of economic gravity keeps pushing relentlessly to the East,” the note added.

China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.77% by 11:6 p.m. (ET) and the Shenzhen Component was up 0.24%. Data released earlier in the day showed that China’s industrial production rose 6.9% year-on-year in October, above the 6.5% growth in forecasts prepared by Investing.com but remaining on par with September’s reading.

Meanwhiles retail sales grew 4.3% year-on-year in October, down from the forecast 4.9% but up from September’s growth of 3.3%. The unemployment rate fell to 5.3% from September’s 5.4%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was up 0.63%.

In Australia, the ASX 200 gained 1.23%. The bourse saw a short pause in trading shortly after its market open, with market data issues currently under investigation by the operator.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.81% and South Korea’s KOSPI soared 1.96%.

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