Asian Shares Mostly Lower Amid China COVID Curbs

(RTTNews) - Asian stocks ended broadly lower on Monday as upbeat U.S. jobs data rekindled worries over aggressive policy tightening and parts of China's financial hub faced more rounds of mass testing to fight rising COID-19 infections.

Shanghai reported its first case of the highly infectious BA.5 omicron sub-variant on Sunday and warned of "very high" risks, raising fears about more lockdowns.

China's Shanghai Composite index fell 1.27 percent to 3,313.58 ahead of exports and imports data due on Wednesday.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index tumbled 2.77 percent to 21,124.20, with heavyweights Tencent Holdings and Alibaba pacing the declines after market regulators in China fined companies for not reporting past transactions as required.

Japanese shares bucked the weak regional trend to end sharply higher as investors cheered a landslide parliamentary election victory by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

The Nikkei average climbed 1.11 percent to 26,812.30 while the broader Topix index finished 1.44 percent higher at 1,914.66.

Japan's core machinery orders fell 5.6 percent in May from the previous month, government data showed earlier today.

Separately, the Bank of Japan raised its economic assessment for seven of the country's nine regions, saying the pandemic's impact on consumption is easing.

Seoul stocks ended lower to snap a two-day winning streak on concerns about the outlook for corporate earnings. The Kospi average dropped 0.44 percent to 2,340.27. SK Hynix, LG Chem and Naver fell 1-3 percent while automakers Hyundai Motor and Kia ended on a positive note.

Bio heavyweight Celltrion advanced 1.9 percent amid worries over a resurgence of coronavirus infections.

Australian markets fell the most in over a week, dragged down by miners. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index slipped 1.14 percent to 6,602.20 points, snapping a two-day winning streak and marking its worst session since June 30. The broader All Ordinaries index fell 1.23 percent to 6,792.60.

BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals Group lost 2-3 percent as iron ore prices fell on fears of weakening demand in top steel producer China.

Gold miners Newcrest and Northern Star Resources both fell around 3 percent as a stronger dollar put downward pressure on bullion prices.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 closed 0.56 percent lower at 11,106.14 points, marking its worst day since July 1. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand will deliver its interest-rate decision on Wednesday, with analysts expecting a third successive half-point hike.

U.S. stocks ended narrowly mixed on Friday as stronger-than-expected jobs data helped ease growth worries but added to expectations of another 75-bps rate hike at the upcoming Fed meeting later this month.

The Dow slipped 0.2 percent and the S&P 500 eased marginally while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite inched up 0.1 percent.

Data showed non-farm payroll employment jumped by 372,000 jobs in June while analysts had forecast 268,000 jobs. The jobless rate stabilized at its historically low level of 3.6 percent.