Asian stocks digest NKorean missile launch

Investors pushed Asian indices except Nikkei cautiously higher after North Korea's launch of four ballistic missiles, three of which landed in Japan's 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone.

Scorecard

South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.20% at the open, but since then has recovered losses to trade 0.13% higher on the day. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index added 0.3%, while the Shanghai Composite added 0.1%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.20%.

Japan’s Nikkei index dropped 0.45% as heightened geopolitical risk pushed the Dollar-Yen pair down to its 5-DMA support of 113.73.

Chinese concerns

Over the weekend, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called for liberalizing the exchange rate policy further and trimmed the country's growth target to 6.5%. He also warned of dangers from global pressure for trade controls.

Aussie retail sales miss estimates

The official data released earlier today showed a 0.4% increase in the retail sales in Australia in the month of January. The actual number was in line with the estimates and thus, did little to help the AUD strengthen.