Asia Pacific stocks mostly fell on Monday — the last full trading day of the year for several major markets in the region.
Mainland Chinese markets tumbled by the end of the morning. The Shanghai composite fell 0.94%, while the Shenzhen composite was down 0.75%. The Shenzhen component dived more than 1%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index followed the trend, declining 0.63%.
The city’s trade data for November is set to be released on Monday as protests continue to take a toll on its economy.
China’s central bank over the weekend said that it will use the loan prime rate as a new benchmark for pricing current floating-rate loans, which analysts say could lower borrowing costs and boost growth, according to a Reuters report.
Meanwhile, Chinese private university operator Shanghai Gench Education Group is planning to list in Hong Kong, according to an application filed to the Hong Kong exchange over the weekend. It didn’t state the timing of the IPO.
Elsewhere, Japan’s Nikkei lost 0.66%, while Australia’s benchmark ASX 200 fell 0.25%. South Korea’s Kospi pared some gains earlier to trade down 0.23%.
Overall, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.21%.
In corporate news, Singapore’s largest telco Singtel announced it’s partnering with ride-hailing firm Grab to apply for a digital banking license in Singapore, according to a joint statement by both companies on Monday.
Monday’s session in Asia follows fresh record highs in U.S. stocks last week amid year-end optimism in markets.
Markets in Japan and South Korea will be closed tomorrow, on New Year’s Eve. Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore will close early by around mid-day.
Oil prices were little changed during the morning of Asia hours, after the U.S. military carried out “precision defense strikes” in Iraq and Syria against a militia group following a string of attacks on Iraqi bases that host American service members. The Pentagon said in a statement that three locations in Iraq and two in Syria were targeted by U.S. forces.
International benchmark Brent crude was up 0.28% to trade at $68.35 per barrel, while U.S. crude traded down at 0.10% at about $61.78 per barrel.
In currencies, the U.S. dollar was around 96.799, falling back from an earlier high of 97.002.
The Japanese yen changed little against the greenback, trading at 109.12. The Australian dollar fetched $0.6989, strengthening from an earlier low of 0.6965.
Here’s the economic calendar for Monday (all times in HK/SIN):
- 4:30 p.m.: Hong Kong’s exports and imports data
