Asian markets largely finished Monday in negative territory with losses up to 1.1%, as investor optimism faded. The only index that closed higher on Monday was the Hang Seng Index, which added 1.7%. The Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Composite lost 0.13% and 0.26% respectively. The KOSPI declined by 0.34, the S&P/ASX 200 decreased by 0.16%, and the Nikkei 225 lost 1.06%.
Chinese indexes initially went up during the Asian session amid reports that the Chinese government has relaxed some of its quarantine measures, such as restrictions on the movement of people.
However, main indexes eventually decreased due to investor concerns over the growing number of COVID-19 infections in major Chinese cities. It is the biggest such outbreak in 6 months.
On the Hang Seng Index, the best performing stocks were Country Garden Holdings, Co. (36,6%) and Longfor Group Holdings, Ltd. (20,1%).
JD.com, Inc. added 3.9%, Tencent Holdings, Ltd. increased by 1.2%, and Alibaba Group gained 0.9%.
Lower-than-expected US inflation data sparked optimism among investors on Friday, who hoped that the Fed would stick to a softer monetary policy. However, a Fed policymaker announced the regulator intends to continue raising the interest rate until inflation is on a steady downward trend towards the target level of 2%. Most experts believe that the rate will be increased by 50 basis points at the upcoming meeting in December.
As a result, the US stock market declined, pulling down Asian indexes as well.
The Nikkei 225 lost 1% on Monday after reaching the highest level in 2 months last week.
Shares of SoftBank Group dropped by 12.7% after the company reported a major loss at its Vision Fund investment arm for a third consecutive quarter. Experts believe the company's share price is unlikely to move up due to the difficult global economic conditions. SoftBank also ended its 400 billion yen ($2.88 billion) share buyback scheme, which began in August.
Olympus lost 10.8% due to a lower revenue outlook for the fiscal year.
Other Japanese stocks rose on Monday. Toto gained 6.6%, while M3 and Shiseido increased by 5.2% each.
In South Korea, stocks on the KOSPI were mixed on Monday. Hyundai Motor rose by 2.9%, while Samsung Electronics lost 0.2%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 went down due to falling stock prices in the banking sector. Among banks that suffered losses were NZ Bank (1.5%), Westpac Banking (1%), Commonwealth Bank (0.7%), and National Australia Bank (0.3%).
