Hang Seng declined 1.2% to 17,815.42, Shanghai Composite shed 1% to 2,969.59, S&P/ASX 200 slid 0.7% to 7,740.80 and Kospi was 0.7% lower at 2,763.95
Asian shares were mostly lower Monday after U.S. stocks closed their latest winning week on Friday, even as Nvidia’s stock cooled further from its startling run.
U.S. futures and oil prices declined.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index gained 0.7% to 38,869.94, making it the sole major benchmark in Asia to post gains on Monday.
The yen softened to 159.93 per dollar during morning trading.
Minutes of the Japanese central bank’s last policy meeting released Monday put the yen under renewed pressure as it hinted that “Any change in the policy interest rate should be considered only after economic indicators confirm that, for example, the CPI inflation rate has clearly started to rebound and medium-to long-term inflation expectations have risen.”
Meanwhile, it was reported that Masato Kanda from the Minister of Finance said officials are ready to intervene to support the currency at any time.
Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 1.2% to 17,815.42, while the Shanghai Composite shed 1% to 2,969.59.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slid 0.7% to 7,740.80. South Korea’s Kospi was 0.7% lower at 2,763.95.
On Friday, the S&P 500 slid 0.2% to 5,464.62, but it remained near its all-time high set on Tuesday and capped its eighth winning week in the last nine. The DJIA rose less than 0.1% to 39,150.33, while the Nasdaq composite shed 0.2% to 17,689.36.
Nvidia again dragged on the market after dropping 3.2%. The company’s stock has surged more than 1,000% since October 2022 on strong demand for its chips, which are powering much of the world’s move into AI technology, and it briefly surpassed Microsoft this week as the most valuable company on Wall Street.
