Major stock exchanges in Asia weakened at the start of the new trading week. The Shanghai Stock Exchange lost more than two percent, followed by Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange composite index lost 2.3 percent on Monday. Indeed, the index charting the development of so-called blue chips weakened by 3.5 percent, the deepest daily decline since last July. The healthcare business segment and the consumer sector weakened the most. Their shares fell between five and six percent. Energy titles followed with a decline of about 5 percent.
The main cause is renewed concern about tightening economic policy. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange also took a ride on the wave of concern, weakening (as measured by the Hang Seng index) by less than two percent. Technology titles, which were losing more than six percent, were falling.
Stocks weakened in Seoul, where the KOSPI index lost an equal percentage of its value. Tokyo’s Nikkei index wrote off less than half a percent. Seoul and Tokyo have been pushing down the success of the US fiscal package and the rise in interest rates on government bonds there. Investors have thus restructured their portfolio towards the US dollar.
