Asian shares trading mixed as optimism wears off on US rally

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mixed Monday, as initial euphoria about the gains that closed out last week on Wall Street faded quickly.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 0.3% in morning trading to 29,022.12. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost earlier gains, inching down 0.1% to 7,290.60. South Korea's Kospi added 0.1% to 3,244.12. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dipped 0.9% to 28,648.63, while the Shanghai Composite inched up less than 0.1% to 3,592.70.

Worries about the coronavirus pandemic remain strong in the region, in contrast to the U.S. and parts of Europe, where life is increasingly returning to something resembling normalcy, but the vaccine rollout is gradually picking up steam in Asia.

Much of the regional economy depends of exports to the West. Data being released this week, such as trade data for China and industrial production for India, are expected to reflect the rebound from the pandemic.

“Consensus expectations around activity data being released this week in Asia looks strong,” Venkateswaran Lavanya of the Asia & Oceania Treasury Department at Mizuho Bank in Singapore said in a commentary.

“The more pertinent question is now whether we can effectively gauge the extent of the recovery, or a lack thereof, in these economies.”

Wall Street closed out last week with a second straight weekly gain for the S&P 500, which rose 0.9% to 4,229.89. It followed a U.S. Labor Department report showing American employers added 559,000 jobs in May.

Technology stocks were biggest gainers and did the most to drive the broader market higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.5% to 34,756.39. The rally in technology stocks helped push the Nasdaq to a solid gain. The tech-heavy index climbed 1.5% to 13,814.49.

Smaller company stocks also notched gains. The Russell...