SINGAPORE — Stocks in Asia-Pacific were mixed in Monday morning trade, as investors are expected to monitor shares of China’s tech giants following the release of new anti-monopoly guidelines over the weekend.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.57% in early trade while the Topix index gained 1.6%. South Korea’s Kospi, on the other hand, dipped 0.89%.
Meanwhile, shares in Australia rose in morning trade as the S&P/ASX 200 gained about 0.6%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded above the flatline.
Investors will be watching Hong Kong listed shares of Chinese tech giants Alibaba, Tencent and JD.com on Monday. That comes after China’s State Administration for Market Regulation released a new set of rules that are set to put pressure on leading internet services in the country such as Alibaba’s Taobao or Tencent’s WeChat Pay, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden said his administration was prepared for “extreme competition” with China, though his approach would be different than his predecessor.
“I’m not going to do it the way Trump did. We are going to focus on the international rules of the road,” Biden said in a CBS interview published Sunday. Biden also said during the interview that he had not spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping yet since he was sworn in last month.
Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 90.988 following a recent decline from levels above 91.2.
The Japanese yen traded at 105.37 per dollar, having weakened last week from levels below 104.8 against the greenback. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7676 following a spike last last week from levels below 0.762.
Oil prices were higher in the morning of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures up 0.98% to $59.92 per barrel. U.S. crude futures gained 1.06% to $57.45 per barrel.
— CNBC’s Amanda Macias contributed to this report.