Asian stocks mostly lower as Wall St falls

New York: Shares in Asia were mostly lower on Monday, with Tokyo the only major regional market to advance, after Wall Street wheezed to more losses with its worst week in six months.

US futures and oil prices edged higher. Worries over China’s property sector, a US government shutdown and the continued strike by American autoworkers were weighing on investor sentiment. Troubled property developer China Evergrande sank 18.2 per cent after announcing it was unable to raise further debt, a predicament that might imperil plans for restructuring its more than $300 billion in debt.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.3 per cent to 17,819.52, while the Shanghai Composite index declined 0.3 per cent to 3,121.78. Japan’s Nikkei-225 was up 0.6 per cent at 32,590.33. In Seoul, the Kospi lost 0.6 per cent to 2,492.15, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.3 per cent to 7,048.00. On Friday, the S&P-500 slipped 0.2 per cent to 4,320.06 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 0.3 per cent at 33,963.84 points. The Nasdaq composite dipped 0.1 per cent to 13,211.81.

The retreat has deepened with Wall Street’s growing understanding that interest rates likely won’t come down much anytime soon. Pressure has built on Wall Street as yields in the bond market climbed to their highest levels in more than a decade. They’d been rising for months and accelerated this week after the Federal Reserve indicated it’s unlikely to cut its main interest rate by as much in 2024 as investors had hoped.