Stocks in Asia were lower on Monday, as shares on a new NASDAQ-style technology board on the Shanghai Stock Exchange skyrocketed on their debut day.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan dropped 50.2 points, or 0.2%, to 21,416.70, with shares of convenience store chain Familymart dropping 3.1%.
Shares of Asahi Group Holdings plunged 8.87% after the company announced it will issue up to 200 billion yen (approx. $1.85 billion U.S.) of shares to fund its planned purchase of Anheuser Busch InBev’s Australian operations.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition won a majority in the country’s upper house of Parliament in elections on Sunday. That came as Japan remains embroiled in a trade dispute with South Korea.
The Japanese yen traded at 107.93 against the U.S. dollar after seeing levels above 108.0 in the previous trading week.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng dumped 394.14 points, or 1.4%, to 28,371.26
Korean markets surrendered some of their strength as shares of Hyundai Motor fell 1.12%.
The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7033 after touching lows below $0.702 last week.
CHINA
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 lost 26.28 points, or 0.7%, to 3,761.68
The STAR market started trading in Shanghai on Monday, as shares of the first batch of 25 companies surged following a massive oversubscription prior to their public debut.
In other markets
In Korea, the Kospi index slipped 1.02 points, or 0.1%, to 2,093.34
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index docked 20.74 points, or 0.6%, to 3,357.22
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index gained 71.34 points, or 0.7%, to 10,944.53
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 added 71.54 points, or 0.7%, to 10,824.69
In Australia, the ASX 200 subtracted 9.11 points, or 0.1%, to 6,691.24
