Japan's Nikkei 225 climbs, yen drops amid political uncertainty as ruling coalition loses majority
This is CNBC's live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 and its Topix index climbed on Monday, supported by a weak yen amid political uncertainty as the ruling LDP lost its parliamentary majority.
The Nikkei rose 1.82% to close at 38,605.53, leading gains in Asia while the Topix advanced 1.51% to 2,657.78. The yen weakened 0.64% to 153.28 on Monday.
The LDP and its coalition partner Komeito secured 215 out of 465 seats, while the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party and the Democratic Party for the People have made significant gains in this election.
This political uncertainty could deter the Bank of Japan from hiking rates, some analysts said.
Izumi Devalier, chief Japan economist at Bank of America, said that while political uncertainty and instability could delay rate hikes, the BOJ cannot ignore sustained weakness in the yen.
"I don't think that necessarily means that the BOJ will be on hold for the foreseeable future. Obviously, you've got to watch the market developments, but we could still be on track for hikes in January or even December, depending on where the yen goes," she said.
South Korea's Kospi gained 1.13% to 2,612.43, while the small cap Kosdaq was 1.8% higher, ending at 740.48 and rebounding off a six week low.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.12%, closing at 8,221.5.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index reversed losses to gain 0.18% as of its final hour, while mainland China's CSI 300 traded 0.2% higher and finished at 3,964.16, 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