Asian shares mixed on US-China tensions, Wall Street gains
TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mixed on Monday as investors eyeballed surging coronavirus cases in the region.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's weekend comments that President Donald Trump plans to take action on a what he sees as a broad array of national security risks presented by software connected to the Chinese Communist Party adding to market jitters.
Pompeo's remarks followed reports that Microsoft is in advanced talks to buy the U.S. operations of TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance and is seen as a source of national security and censorship concerns by the Trump administration.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 1.9% to 22,123.93. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 edged up 0.3% to 5,946.70. South Korea's Kospi slipped 0.1% to 2,247.00. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.8% to 24,400.12, while the Shanghai Composite index jumped 1.3% to 3,352.07.
“Between the increased growth concerns and the big tech surprises from Wall Street last week, Asia markets are set for mixed movements into Monday morning,” said Jingyi Pan, market strategist at IG in Singapore, referring to the U.S. rally that closed last week's trading.
Investors were also watching the Caixin manufacturing Purchasing Manager's Index, a private survey which showed China's manufacturing activity grew in July.
On Friday, Wall Street closed outs its fourth straight winning month, riding on Big Tech shares continuing to steamroll through the pandemic. The S&P 500 rose 24.90 points, or 0.8%, to 3,271.12 following blowout profit reports from Apple and several other tech titans.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down as many as 300 points before finishing the day up 114.67, or 0.4%, at 26,428.32. The Nasdaq composite jumped 157.64, or 1.5%, to 10,745.27 on the strength for...