Major Asia-Pacific markets dipped on Monday, with South Korean stocks hitting a pause following a stellar start to 2021.
Markets in Japan were shuttered Monday for holiday.
The Japanese yen traded at 104.11 per dollar after weakening last week from levels below 103 against the greenback.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong gained 30 points, or 0.1%, to 27,908.22.
In Korea, Shares of automaker Hyundai Motor rose again on Monday following a local media report that the firm and Apple are set to sign a partnership deal on autonomous electric cars.
Hyundai Motor shares soared 8.7% on Monday while Kia Motors also jumped 2.6%. Meanwhile, Hyundai Mobis fell 2% and Hyundai Glovis lost 3.7%. Shares of Hyundai Motor popped more than 19% on Friday following an initial report surrounding the Apple deal.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand on Sunday announced that a third party file sharing service used by the central bank to "share and store some sensitive information" was illegally accessed. The RBNZ later clarified on Monday that it was not a specific target of the cyberattack, which also affected other users of the file sharing application.
JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley will delist hundreds of Hong Kong-listed structured products, following an executive order banning U.S. investment in firms alleged by Washington to be linked to the Chinese military.
According to filings by the three investment banks to the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, the products are related to telecommunications firms China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom as well as local indexes including the city’s benchmark Hang Seng index.
That comes after the New York Stock Exchange announced it would delist the U.S.-listed shares of those three Chinese telecommunications firms, also citing the executive order on the investment ban. Trading is set to be suspended at 4 p.m. ET Monday.
The Australian dollar was at $0.7707 following levels above $0.78 seen last week.
CHINA
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 fell 54.27 points, or 1%, to 5,441.16.
China’s producer price index fell 0.4% in December as compared to a year earlier, according to the country’s Bureau of Statistics. That was a smaller decline than the 0.8% fall expected in a median forecast of an economist poll. Meanwhile, China’s consumer price index rose 0.2% year-on-year in December, against expectations of a 0.1% increase.
In other markets
In Korea, the Kospi index docked 3.73 points, or 0.1%, to 3,148.45
In Singapore, the Straits Times slid 9.29 points, or 0.3%, to 2,993.19.
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index climbed 93.35 points, or 0.6%, to 15,573.30.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 dumped 268.1 points, or 2%, to 13,290.09.
In Australia, the ASX 200 stepped back 60.71 points, or 0.9% to 6,697.16.
