SINGAPORE — Asia-Pacific stocks mostly declined on Monday, with shares in India and China seeing sizable losses.
Both the Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex in India dropped more than 3% each, as of 1:45 p.m. local time.
The losses came as the Covid-19 situation in the country remains severe, with Reuters reporting the hardest-hit state of Maharashtra is considering a lockdown.
Meanwhile, mainland Chinese stocks also fell on the day. The Shanghai composite declined 1.09% to 3,412.95 while the Shenzhen component dropped 2.299% to 13,495.72. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slipped nearly 1%, as of its final hour of trading.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.77% to close at 29,538.73 while the Topix index finished its trading day 0.25% lower at 1,954.59. South Korea’s Kospi bucked the regional trend to close 0.12% higher at 3,135.59.
Stocks in Australia slipped. The S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.3% on the day to 6,974.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan declined 1.06%.
Stocks on the move
Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 92.282 following its decline earlier this month from above 92.8.
The Japanese yen traded at 109.43 per dollar, stronger than levels above 110.5 against the greenback seen last week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7613 following turbulent trade last week that saw it swinging from above $0.765 to around $0.759.
Oil prices were lower in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures up 0.38% to $63.19 per barrel. U.S. crude futures slightly higher by about 0.19% to $59.43 per barrel.
Source: CNBC