Hong Kong and Tokyo markets both declined on Monday as investors remain concerned that tech stocks, particularly those in the AI sector, are currently overvalued.
The Hang Seng Index was down 1.34 percent to close at 25,628.88 points. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell 1.78 percent to end at 8,917.70 points, and the Hang Seng Tech Index slumped 2.48 percent to 5,498.42 points.
Meanwhile, the Nikkei stock index, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average, ended 668.44 points, or 1.31 percent, lower at 50,168.11 points.
Timothy Pope, market analyst for CGTN, recapped stock market performances in Hong Kong and Tokyo. He noted that although Hong Kong stocks mostly fell on Monday, there were still some individual winners, including the Chinese sportswear makers ANTA and Li-Ning.
"In Hong Kong, most sectors traded lower today. The Hang Seng [Index] dropped 1.3 percent, although there were a few individual winners, including the Chinese sportswear makers ANTA and Li-Ning. They are continuing to benefit from some market chatter about the possibility that one or the other will be successful in a buyout of the struggling German running shoe maker Puma. Li-Ning was the best-performing stock on the Hang Seng Index today, adding 5.4 percent. Hang Seng Bank was also up 0.3 percent after its board approved a buyout bid from HSBC, saying the price of 13.6 billion U.S. dollars was reasonable and fair and recommending that smaller shareholders vote 'yes' to the takeover, which would also amount to a take-private offer for the bank. The Vanke fallout pushed Hong Kong property stocks lower. We also saw Vanke's Hong Kong listing down 5.2 percent," said the analyst.
"Over in Japan, the Nikkei 225 slipped 1.3 percent, but just managed to hold on to the 50,000-point level. On Friday, the Tokyo markets managed to defy falls among the heavyweight chip stocks and rise -- the market as the whole. But today, that drag was too much to fight. There was a 6.4-percent drop for Advantest stock, and a 6-percent fall for the AI investor SoftBank. It was far from all bad though. More stocks rose on the Nikkei today than fell. There was a rotation into consumer-focused stocks like retail and railway shares. And banks were gaining ground as well, after a Bank of Japan (BOJ) survey released today, the quarterly Tankan survey. That showed sentiment among Japanese manufacturers is at a four-year high. And that seemed to reinforce expectations that there will be an interest rate rise by the BOJ on Friday. And that would be good for bank returns," he said.
Analyst recaps Asian stock markets' Monday performance
