Japanese central bank expected to raise interest rate

The Bank of Japan began its two-day Monetary Policy Meeting on Monday, with a decision on whether to raise rates due on Tuesday.

The central bank's current short-term policy rate stands at 0.75 percent, and the market widely expects the board to raise it to 1 percent.

Japanese central bank expected to raise interest rate

Chinese stocks closed higher on Monday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 1.61 percent to 4,096.47 points.

The Shenzhen Component Index closed 3.79 percent higher at 15,531.11 points.

The combined turnover of stocks covered by these two indices reached 3.05 trillion yuan (about 447.95 billion U.S. dollars), down from 3.24 trillion yuan on the previous trading day.

In market trading on Monday, computing hardware, semiconductor chips, precious metals and consumer electronics shares were among the top gainers, while the coal, banking, livestock, and oil and gas sectors led the declines.

The ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, gained 5.30 percent to close at 4,033.53 points.

The STAR Composite Index, which reflects the performance of stocks on China's sci-tech innovation board, closed 4.89 percent higher at 2,128.58 points on Monday.

Chinese shares close higher Monday