Asian Shares Decline In Thin Holiday Trade

Asian shares ended mostly lower in thin holiday trade Monday despite the S&P 500’s record-setting close on Friday.

Markets in mainland China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore were closed for the Lunar New Year, while the Japanese market was closed for National Day.

Investors looked ahead to the release of U.S. consumer price inflation data for January and Japanese GDP figures for the last quarter of 2023 this week for clues to the economic and monetary policy outlook.

Traders also await speeches from a slew of Fed officials this week for more cues on the Fed’s rate trajectory.

Australian markets ended lower after CSL said a phase 3 trial for a heart attack drug “did not meet its primary efficacy endpoint.”

Shares of the pharmaceutical company slumped 4.8 percent, while the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.39 percent to 7,614.90. The broader All Ordinaries index closed 0.31 percent lower at 7,860.30.

Lender ANZ Group Holdings rose 1.3 percent and electronics retailer JB Hi-Fi soared 7.1 percent after reporting better-than-expected earnings results.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index fell 0.88 percent to 11,757.97 ahead of Fletcher Building’s first half result due on Wednesday.

India’s Sensex was down 0.8 percent at 71,043, with public sector banks and media stocks coming under selling pressure.

U.S. stocks rose on Friday after revised data showed U.S. monthly consumer prices rose less than initially estimated in December.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rallied 1.3 percent to close at its highest level in more than 2 years and the S&P 500 added 0.6 percent to end above 5,000 for the first time ever and book a fifth straight week of gains, while the narrower Dow slipped 0.1 percent.