Asian markets oscillate between gains and losses

Asian markets oscillated between gains and losses on Monday on upbeat U.S. jobs data and as reports from China provided a mixed picture of the nation’s economy, while revised estimates showed Japan’s economy shrank.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell less than 0.1% to 126 as of 1:21 p.m. Tokyo time. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average was little changed, while the broader Topix slipped 0.3%. The country’s gross domestic product contracted for a second consecutive quarter in the three months through September, putting the nation’s economy into a technical recession.

In China, Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.5% after the nation’s exports increased 2.9% in November from a year earlier, compared with the 9% median estimate of 31 analysts in a Bloomberg News survey and an 11.6% increase in October.

Industrial production rose 10.1% in November from a year earlier and retail sales growth rose to 14.9%, while inflation was 2%, the statistics bureau said on Sunday.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.4% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 0.2%. Singapore’s Straits Times Index was up 0.7%. South Korea’s Kospi Index was little changed, erasing gains of as much as 0.7 percent.

In corporate news, Yue Yuen Industrial Holdings Ltd., a maker of shoes for Nike Inc., rose 1.7% in Hong Kong. Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd., the nation’s biggest producer of the lightweight metal, added 2.4% after Chinese industrial production beat estimates. Advantest Corp., the largest producer of semiconductor-testing devices, jumped 5.3% in Tokyo after the company said he expects new orders will rise 20% this quarter.