TOKYO- Hong Kong stocks led declines in Asia on Monday after Beijing’s latest stimulus fell short of investor expectations, overshadowing Wall Street’s record highs from Friday and futures pointing to further strength at the reopen.
Bitcoin climbed to an all-time high as Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election along with pro-crypto candidates being voted to Congress spurred expectations of a light-handed regulatory environment.
The dollar traded not far from last week’s four-month peak versus major peers as traders prepared for a key reading of US consumer inflation this week, as well as a parade of Federal Reserve speakers, including Chair Jerome Powell on Thursday.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng sank 1.9 percent as of 0545 GMT, with a sub-index of mainland Chinese property shares tumbling 3.3 percent.
Chinese blue chips were more volatile, trading 0.2 percent higher after earlier dipping 1.6 percent.
Japan’s Nikkei was flat after recovering from small early losses. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.8 percent.
Australia’s share benchmark declined 0.4 percent, weighed down by commodity stocks, after oil and industrial metals weakened.
On Friday, after Chinese markets had closed, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee unveiled a 10 trillion yuan ($1.39 trillion) debt package to ease local government financing strains and stabilize flagging economic growth.
However, the stimulus steps lacked the direct injection of money into the economy that some investors had hoped to see, particularly amid the threat of massive tariffs under the incoming Trump administration.
“The measures announced by China look more like an effort to repair government balance sheets rather than stimulate the economy directly, watering down hopes of a robust recovery,” said Kyle Rodda, a senior financial market analyst at Capital.com. The stimulus disappointment overshadowed what should have been a positive lead from Wall Street, where the S&P 500 broke above 6,000 points for the first time before marking a record close slightly below that level.
