Asian shares decline following lackluster day on Wall Street

Asian shares sank on Tuesday after a lackluster day on Wall Street as investors wait to see if Congress can break a logjam on delivering more aid to people, businesses and local governments affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell after Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced a suspension of a travel promotion program that has helped businesses but also is thought to have helped spark a resurgence of coronavirus outbreaks.

The program was suspended from Dec. 28-Jan. 11, basically the entire New Year rush period, when most families head out on holidays or back to their hometowns. The Go To Travel program and another dubbed Go To Eat mainly provided steep discounts on hotel rooms and meals and has helped cushion the blow from the loss of nearly all inbound foreign tourism due to pandemic-related controls and concerns.

Also Tuesday, China's government announced a raft of monthly statistics showing retail sales, industrial output and investments in factory equipment and other fixed assets rose as expected in November. However, the Shanghai Composite index declined 0.2% to 3,367.23.

Other regional benchmarks also tracked Wall Street's retreat. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.7% to 26,220.41 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo gave up 0.3% to 26,687.84. South Korea's Kospi lost 0.2% to 2,756.82 while the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia shed 0.4% to 6,631.30.

Extending its pullback from recent months of gains, the S&P 500 fell 0.4% to 3,647.49 on Monday after having gained 0.9% earlier in the session. It was its fourth straight decline, the first since September. Losses in the financial, industrial and health care sectors led the retreat, outweighing gains by technology stocks and companies that rely on consumer spending.

Treasury yields were mostly higher, a sign of optimism in the economy....