Asia-Pacific stocks mostly decline as investors weigh economic concerns

SINGAPORE — Shares in the Asia-Pacific region mostly fell on Tuesday as investors weigh economic concerns.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.86% in early trade, while the Hang Seng Tech index slipped 2.26%.

Mainland Chinese markets fell. The Shanghai Composite lost 0.33% and the Shenzhen Component inched down 0.41%.

Technology investor Prosus NV will sell some of its stake in Tencent to fund a stock buyback of itself and parent Naspers, the Dutch firm said on Monday. Hang Seng heavyweight Tencent fell 5.18%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 gave up gains and was almost flat, while the Topix rose 0.25%.

In South Korea, the Kospi sat just below the flatline after rising earlier in the session, while the Kosdaq declined 0.78%.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares was down 0.64%

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was 0.29% higher.

In corporate news, Trip.com reported a net loss of 989 million Chinese yuan ($147.79 million) for the first quarter of 2022 after the U.S. market close.

The company said in a press release that its results were materially and adversely affected by Covid-19 disruptions in China. Trip.com’s U.S.-listed shares fell 1.51% in after hours trade.

Weilong Delicious, a Chinese snack company, has reportedly revived its initial public offering in Hong Kong and could be listed in the second half of the year. Bloomberg reported that the company refiled a preliminary prospectus on Monday and that the company could raise $500 million.

Overnight in the U.S., the major indexes fell following a major rebound on Friday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 62.42 points, or 0.2%, to 31,438.26. The S&P 500 fell 0.3% to 3,900.11, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.7%, falling to 11,524.55.

“There is a clear lack of conviction by investors with light trading volumes favoring the notion of an exhausted market, with big declines set to be recorded this quarter, notwithstanding the outsized gains logged last week,” Rodrigo Catril, a currency strategist at National Australia Bank, wrote in a note Tuesday.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 103.919.

The Japanese yen traded at 135.31 per dollar, holding stronger than the 136 level. The Australian dollar was at $0.6934.

Oil futures rose in Asia’s morning trade. West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the U.S. benchmark, increased 0.89% to $110.54 per barrel. International benchmark Brent crude was 0.75% higher at $115.95 per barrel.