Asia shares mostly lower on selling of tech stocks
TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mostly lower Monday despite hopes for a gradual global recovery after the U.S. stimulus package passed the Senate over the weekend.
Heavy selling of shares in technology companies helped drag benchmarks lower in Japan and South Korea after early gains. The Shanghai Composite index dropped 2.3% after China’s foreign minister made ominous comments about the self-ruled island of Taiwan.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 shed 0.4% to 28,743.25. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 edged up 0.4% higher to 6,739.60, while South Korea's Kospi sank 1.0% to 2,995.90. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.5% to 28,661.49, while the Shanghai Composite fell to 3,423.02.
Chinese computer chip maker SMIC dropped 5.2%; mobile phone maker Xiaomi lost 7.8%; Japanese technology and energy giant SoftBank shed 2.4% and printer and copy machine maker Ricoh lost 6.3%.
Oil prices pressed higher, with Brent crude surpassing $70 per barrel after OPEC chose not to lift production cuts. Oil prices surged late last week after Yemen rebels claimed they had attacked a Saudi oil facility. However, there were no signs of damage.
At an annual news conference on the sidelines of largely ceremonial annual session of China's National People's Congress, Foreign Minister Wang Yi demanded the Biden administration reverse former President Donald Trump’s “dangerous practice” of showing support for Taiwan.
China’s claim to Taiwan, which split with the mainland in 1949 but is claimed by Beijing as its territory, is an “insurmountable red line,” he said. Separately, Wu Qian, a spokesperson for the Defense Ministry and a delegate to the congress, said that China would not “renounce the use of force and reserve the right to take whatever measures are necessary.”
Taiwan's share...