The Chinese and South Korean stock markets entered the new trading week with a downturn. Stocks in Shanghai weakened by the most since last July. Events on the Seoul Stock Exchange also went down, with Japan the exception in the region.
Shanghai’s CSI300 index of blue chips fell more than three percent on Monday, the deepest daily decline since late July last year. Behind the weakening is speculation that China’s economic policymakers may soon take restrictive measures. The main shanghai stock exchange index then lost nearly 1.5 percent.
Developments on the Seoul Stock Exchange were promising in early Monday trading. The KOSPI index initially headed up more than a percent, but did not maintain its trend and ended almost a percent weaker. Korea was largely influenced by developments in China, although the market initially heard strong growth in Korean exports.
Tokyo was an exception to the region’s major exchanges. The main Nikkei index added almost half a percent, consolidated its position above 30,000 points. Investors were particularly interested in cyclical titles, i.e. shares of rubber producers or industrial metal processors.
