Hong Kong: Asian shares were mostly lower on Monday after US stocks coasted to the close of their latest winning week on Friday, even as Nvidia’s stock cooled further from its startling, supernova run.US futures and oil prices dropped. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index rose 0.7 per cent to 38,869.94, making it the sole major benchmark in Asia to post gains on Monday.

The yen weakened 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 indicated 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 dropped 1.2 per cent to 17,815.42, while the Shanghai Composite lost 1 per cent to 2,969.59. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.7 per cent to 7,740.80. South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.7 per cent to 2,763.95.

On Friday, the S&P 500 slipped 0.2 per cent to 5,464.62, but it remained close to its all-time high set on Tuesday and capped its eighth winning week in the last nine. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up less than 0.1 per cent to 39,150.33, while the Nasdaq composite dropped 0.2 per cent to 17,689.36.