Asian Shares Mostly Lower As Wall St. Run Sputters

Asian shares were mostly lower on Monday after Wall Street’s huge rally faltered last week. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index shed 2.2% to 38,820.49.

South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.8% to 2,659.53 and the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia gave up 1.8% to 7,704.20. I Photo: Neerav Bhatt Flickr

The government issued revised figures showing the economy grew 0.1% in the last quarter of the year, better than the minus 0.1% reported earlier but lower than forecasts, as reported by Elaine Kurtenbach for the Associated Press (AP).

That means the economy is not in a technical recession, though it’s expanding at a snail’s pace.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.4% to 16,574.65 and the Shanghai Composite was up 0.2% to 3,052.38.

China’s National People’s Congress concludes later Monday with no major changes of policy expected. The mostly ceremonial body endorses decisions set by top leaders of the ruling Communist Party.

Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.8% to 2,659.53 and the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia gave up 1.8% to 7,704.20. On Friday, the S&P 500 fell 0.7% from its all-time high set a day before, closing at 5,123.69. The Dow dropped 0.2% to 38,722.69, and the Nasdaq slid 1.2% to 16,085.11.

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