Stocks in mainland China plummeted more than 7% on Monday as they returned to trade following an extended holiday amid an ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index lost 223.24 points, or 1%, Monday, to 22,971.94.
The Japanese yen, often viewed as a safe-haven currency in times of economic uncertainty, traded at 108.53 per U.S. dollar after strengthening sharply from levels above 108.9 last week.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index regained 44.35 points, or 0.2%, to 26,356.98, with shares of Chinese tech juggernauts Tencent jumping 2%, and Alibaba hiking 2.5%
The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.6699 after slipping from levels above $0.676 in the previous trading week.
CHINA
In mainland China, the CSI 300 returned to trading after a prolonged Lunar New Year holiday to lose 315.54, or 7.9%, to 3,688.36.
The moves on the mainland came following an extended holiday amid an ongoing virus outbreak that has taken more than 300 lives in the country so far.
The People’s Bank of China announced Sunday that it will inject 1.2 trillion yuan (approx. $173 billion U.S.) worth of liquidity into the markets via open market reverse repo operations. The Chinese central bank said the overall liquidity in the system would be 900 billion yuan (approx. $130 billion U.S.) more as compared to the same period last year.
A private survey of China’s manufacturing activity also came in on Monday, showing it expanded in January, with the Markit/Caixin manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for January at 51.1. That was below expectations of 51.3 by economists in a Reuters poll.
The PMI figure for December was 51.5. PMI readings above 50 indicate expansion, while those below that level signal contraction.
On Friday, China’s National Bureau of Statistics said the country’s official manufacturing PMI came in at 50.0 for the month of January — an indication of stalled activity. The bureau said that the impact of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak was not fully reflected in the survey, which was conducted before Jan. 20.
The onshore Chinese yuan touched a low of 7.0223 against the greenback, last trading at 7.0141 while its offshore counterpart was at 7.0132 per dollar.
In other markets
In Taiwan, the Taiex sank 140.18 points, or 1.2%, to 11,354.92
In Korea, the Kospi index dropped 0.13 points to 2,118.88
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index fell 37.42 points, or 1.2%, to 3,116.31
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 lost 167.28 points, or 1.4%, to 11,550.16
In Australia, the ASX 200 retreated 93.95 points, or 1.3%, to 6,923.25
