Shares in Asia-Pacific were mixed on Monday, with stocks in Hong Kong leading losses.
The Nikkei 225 gained 65.53 points, or 0.2%, to 30,447.37. The Japanese yen traded at 110.11 per dollar, stronger than levels around 110.4 seen against the greenback last week
Shares of automakers Toyota fell 1.7%, and Honda stepped back 1.3%. The two firms criticized a U.S. House electric vehicle tax plan that would benefit Detroit’s Big Three automakers, according to a Reuters report.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index dumped 392.1 points, or 1.5%, to 25,813.81.
Hong Kong-listed shares of Alibaba dropped 4.2% following a Financial Times report that Beijing wants to break up Ant Group’s Alipay and force the creation of a separate loans app.
Other Chinese tech stocks also declined, with Tencent falling 2.5% while Meituan slipped 4.5%.
The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7358 following its slide last week from above $0.744.
CHINA
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 dropped 21.86 points, or 0.4% to 4,991.66.
Chinese electric vehicle stocks fell after the country’s industry minister said consolidation in the sector is needed as there are “too many” EV makers in China. BYD dropped 2.1% while Xpeng slipped 2.4%.
Meanwhile, Chinese property developer Soho China plunged 34.6% after a takeover deal by Blackstone Group fell through. Soho China said in a filing on Friday that Blackstone has decided not to go through with its $3-billion bid to buy the developer.
In other markets
In Korea, the Kospi index edged up 2.1 points, or 0.1%, to 3,127.86
In Singapore, the Straits Times subtracted 24.49 points, or 0.8%, to 3,074
In Taiwan, the Taiex index let go of 28.26 points, or 0.2%, to 17,446.31
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 jumped 106.51 points, or 0.8%, to 13,170.90
In Australia, the ASX 200 added 18.58 points, or 0.3%, at 7,425.21
