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Investing.com – Asian stocks were mixed on Monday morning, with investors digesting Sunday’s record number of COVID-19 cases as well as details of China’s national security laws for Hong Kong that were released over the weekend.
The World Health Organization reported a record 183,020 COVID-19 cases on Sunday, with over 8.9 million cases globally and over 460,000 deaths as of June 22 according to Johns Hopkins University data.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 0.46% by 10:20 PM ET (3:20 AM GMT) over fears that national security laws could be enacted in the city sooner than expected. China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee said it would meet again for three days starting June 28, as it wrapped up its bimonthly meeting over the weekend. The rare move could see the laws enacted in Hong Kong and Macau as early as June 30.
China’s Shanghai Composite was up 0.43% and the Shenzhen Component gained 0.51%. China announced earlier in the day that it would not change its benchmark lending rate, keeping both the 1-year loan prime rate and the 5-year loan prime rate steady at 3.85% and 4.65% respectively.
Down Under, the ASX 200 rose 0.18%, reversing its earlier gains. Australia saw a return of tightening restrictions in the second-biggest state of Victoria, to curb a surge of cases in the state.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.02% and South Korea’s KOSPI lost 0.11%.
“Shares remain technically overbought and vulnerable to a further correction or period of consolidation, but we continue to see it as a pause in a rising trend,” Shane Oliver, global investment strategist at AMP (OTC:AMLTF) Capital Investors Ltd, told Bloomberg.
“Fear about a second wave of coronavirus cases continues.”
