Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 and its Topix index climbed on Monday after the country’s Liberal Democratic Party lost its majority in Japan’s lower house following elections on Sunday.
The LDP and its coalition partner Komeito have secured 215 out of 465 seats, public broadcaster NHK reported early Monday morning local time. The opposition Constitutional Democratic Party and the Democratic Party for the People have made significant gains in this election.
The Nikkei rose 1.5%, leading gains in Asia while the Topix was up 1.18%. The moves were supported by a weaker yen, which fell 0.96% to 153.75 on Monday.
South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.61%, while the small cap Kosdaq was 1.02% higher.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.17%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.24%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 saw a larger loss of 0.73% after China reported its worst industrial profit numbers since the pandemic. Industrial profits in China plunged 27.1% year on year in September.
On Friday in the U.S., the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.56% to a new all-time high of 18,518.61 on Friday, boosted by megacap tech stocks.
Nvidia added 0.8%, and shares of Meta Platforms, Amazon and Microsoft were also higher.
However, other major benchmarks fell, with the S&P 500 0.03% lower and the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.61%.
