Amid concerns over China's declining oil demand and its impact on larger global crude oil prices, the Chinese equity markets appear to be grinning in green on the first trading session of the new trading week.
The Shanghai-based SSE Composite traded in the green, with gains of 0.53 per cent or 15.14 points, climbing to 2,894.57.
In addition, the Hong Kong-based marquee index, the Hang Seng, also made significant gains in the first half of the day's trading session on Monday, August 19.
The index gained 1.18 per cent or 206.35 points, climbing to 17,636.51.
Nevertheless, it is interesting to note that the other major Asian indices, including Japan's Nikkei and TOPIX, were trading in red.
Nikkei was trading in red with marginal losses of 0.041 per cent or 15.50 points, climbing down to 38,047.17.
Meanwhile, its neighbouring TOPIX lost 0.30 per cent of its value, dropping to 2,670.69
Moving to the Korean Peninsula, the value of the marquee index, KOSPI, also declined. The index, however, recovered from a major slump in the early trading session. At the time of writing, the index had dropped by 0.14 per cent or 3.82 points, slumping to 2,693.41.
Oil Prices Drop
This development comes amid declining prices of oil, that were reportedly triggered by a decline or concerns over a decline in Chinese demand. China is the world's largest importer of crude oil.
And the country has been reeling under an economic slowdown that has impacted its prospects. One of the major reasons behind this slowdown has been diminished purchasing capacity, which in turn has affected the country's consumption.
WTI | Reuters
Brent Crude | Reuters
In the early day's trade, the price of the WTI crude slumped by 0.39 per cent to USD 76.35 a barrel. Meanwhile, the other major benchmark, Brent Crude, also dropped below the USD 80 a barrel mark. Brent crude dropped by 0.20 per cent to USD 79.52 a barrel.
