SINGAPORE — Major Asia-Pacific markets dipped on Monday, with South Korean stocks hitting a pause following a stellar start to 2021.
South Korea’s Kospi, which jumped nearly 10% in the first trading week of the year, shed earlier gains seen during the session and closed 0.12% lower at 3,148.45.
Shares of automaker Hyundai Motor rose again on Monday following a local media report that the firm and Apple are set to sign a partnership deal on autonomous electric cars, according to Reuters.
Hyundai Motor shares soared 8.74% on Monday while Kia Motors also jumped 2.64%. Meanwhile, Hyundai Mobis and Hyundai Glovis fell 1.95% and 3.73%, respectively. Shares of Hyundai Motor popped more than 19% on Friday following an initial report surrounding the Apple deal.
Mainland Chinese stocks fell on the day: The Shanghai composite declined 1.08% to 3,531.50 while the Shenzhen component shed 1.331% to 15,115.38.
China’s producer price index fell 0.4% in December as compared to a year earlier, according to the country’s Bureau of Statistics. That was a smaller decline than the 0.8% fall expected in a median forecast of a Reuters poll. Meanwhile, China’s consumer price index rose 0.2% year-on-year in December, against expectations of a 0.1% increase in a Reuters poll.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was above the flatline, as of its final hour of trading. Elsewhere, the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia declined 0.9% to close at 6,697.20.
New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 index fell 1.977% on Monday to 13,290.09. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand on Sunday announced that a third party file sharing service used by the central bank to “share and store some sensitive information” was illegally accessed. The RBNZ later clarified on Monday that it was not a specific target of the cyberattack, which also affected other users of the file sharing application.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.14%.
Markets in Japan were closed on Monday for a holiday.
Delisting fears
Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 90.325 after a recent rise from levels below 89.4.
The Japanese yen traded at 104.11 per dollar after weakening last week from levels below 103 against the greenback. The Australian dollar was at $0.7707 following levels above $0.78 seen last week.
Oil prices were lower in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures down 1.3% to $55.26 per barrel. U.S. crude futures dipped 0.86% to $51.79 per barrel.
Source: CNBC