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Hong Kong, China stocks extend losses; Country Garden drops 17% to new record low

Lim Hui Jie

This is CNBC's live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.

Tokyo Skytree (R) and Mount Fuji are seen from the I-link Town observatory in Ichikawa city, Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo on July 2, 2023.
Philip Fong | Afp | Getty Images

Asia-Pacific markets fell on Monday, led by Hong Kong's Hang Seng index.

The index tumbled almost 2%, dragged by basic materials and consumer cyclical stocks. However, the real estate sector also saw a sell-off, with real estate firm Country Garden Holdings leading losses on the HSI.

Mainland Chinese stocks also were all in negative territory, with the CSI 300, a benchmark for mainland stocks, closing 0.73% down at 3,855.9 on Monday.

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Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.27% to close at 32,059.91 and the Topix lost 0.98% to end at 2,280.89. Japan will see its second quarter gross domestic product figures out on Tuesday, while July's inflation print will come in on Friday.

South Korea's Kospi was down 0.79% and ended at 2,570.87, and the Kosdaq saw a larger loss of 1.15% to finish at 901.68. Both indexes extended their losing streak to three days.

Meanwhile, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was 0.86% lower to record its second straight day of losses at 7,277.


On Friday in the U.S., markets ended the week mixed, with the Nasdaq Composite ending Friday 0.6% lower and notched its second consecutive losing week in 2023, pulled down by a selloff in semiconductor stocks such as Advanced Micro Devices, Nvidia and Micron.

The S&P 500 inched lower by 0.1%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.3%, helped by advances of 2.1% and 1.8% in Chevron and Merck & Co., respectively.

— CNBC's Hakyung Kim and Alex Harring contributed to this report

India's wholesale July inflation rate sees smaller drop than expected

The wholesale inflation rate in India saw a smaller than expected fall in July, down 1.36% compared to the 2.7% drop expected by economists polled by Reuters.

India's commerce and industry ministry said this was mainly due to a slower increase in prices of mineral oils, basic metals, chemical & chemical products, textiles and food products.

The decline was also smaller than June's 4.12% fall marking first time the inflation rate picked up since May 2022.

— Lim Hui Jie

Yen breaches 145 mark against the dollar, prompting expectations of BOJ intervention

The Japanese yen breached the 145 mark against the dollar on Monday, the first time since November 2022.

On Friday, the Japanese currency briefly touched the same key psychological level.

The yen has been steadily weakening since the Bank of Japan adjusted its stance on its yield curve control policy in late July, sending 10-year Japanese government bonds to its highest levels in nine years.

Read the full story here.

— Lim Hui Jie

Shares of Country Garden continue to slide after it suspends trading of onshore bonds

Shares of Chinese real estate company Country Garden Holdings continued to tumble after it announced that it will suspend the trading of 11 onshore bonds. The stock reached a new all time low after it slid 10% on its open.

In a filing over the weekend, Country Garden said the suspension will take effect today, and the resumption of trading "will be determined separately."

"During the suspension, the company will perform information disclosure obligations in strict accordance with the requirements of relevant laws and regulations, and will apply for resumption of corporate bonds in a timely manner after relevant matters are determined," it said.

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CNBC Pro: Alibaba is doubling down on A.I. — Chinese stocks to watch

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba talked up business opportunities in artificial intelligence in a conference call with analysts Thursday.

Cloud rival Tencent is also expected to discuss AI business plans when it reports results Wednesday. Baidu, which has its AI-powered Ernie chatbot, is set to release earnings on Aug. 22.

All that AI interest is driving demand for Nvidia's chips — and some components made by Chinese companies.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Evelyn Cheng

Crude oil extends rally to 7th week for first time since June, 2022

September West Texas Intermediate crude oil contracts this week rallied for a 7th consecutive week for the first time since June 2022, while October Brent — the international benchmark — also rose for a 7th straight week.

September natural gas contracts climbed 7.5% this week — the biggest weekly increase since mid-June.

September gasoline added 6.5% this week, the most in a week since early March, and rising for a 4th week in five.

The S&P 500 Energy Index turned in the best performance of the 11 main sectors in the S&P 500, rising 3.5% this week versus the S&P 500 Health-Care Index's 2.5% gain and the S&P 500's 0.3% loss.

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S&P 500 Energy vs S&P 500 this week.

— Scott Schnipper, Gina Francolla

CNBC Pro: Goldman Sachs says this large automaker could be a 'strong EV player' – and take 10% market share

Goldman Sachs has said that a large global automaker's aggressive plans to grow its electric vehicle sales could be a 'strong EV player' by 2030.

The Wall Street bank said the car maker's cost-reduction strategy for EV sales could give it a 10% market share and drive a re-rating in its stock.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Ganesh Rao

Energy stocks are suddenly leading the market on the day, this week, this month and this quarter

Don't look now, but the best performing sector in the S&P 500 on Friday, this week, this month and this quarter is — energy stocks. The group is outperforming both technology and the broader S&P 500 since June 30.

The S&P 500 Energy Index was recently ahead 1.4% on Friday, 3.4% for the week, 2.5% in August and 9.9% since the start of the third quarter.

The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund is performing still better, rising about 1.6% Friday, 3.4% for the week, 2.7% in August and 10.7% in the third quarter-to-date.

Better still is the quarterly performance of the VanEck Oil Services ETF, which is higher by 1.4% on Friday, up 2% week-to-date, 1.4% in August, but 21.2% higher in the third quarter.

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Oil service stock ETF vs S&P 500 Tech Index since June 30, 2023.

This week the Paris-based International Energy Agency said global crude oil consumption reached a record 103 million barrels per day in June, and was on pace to exceed that level in August.

— Scott Schnipper

CNBC Pro: Goldman Sachs says this large automaker could be a 'strong EV player' – and take 10% market share

Goldman Sachs has said that a large global automaker's aggressive plans to grow its electric vehicle sales could be a 'strong EV player' by 2030.

The Wall Street bank said the car maker's cost-reduction strategy for EV sales could give it a 10% market share and drive a re-rating in its stock.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Ganesh Rao

Dollar index headed for fourth straight positive week

The Dollar index gained around 0.3% at 102.78, nearing its highest level since Aug. 8, when the index traded as high as 102.796.

The measure of the U.S. dollar against a basket of major currencies is up 0.6% for the week. That means it's on pace for its fourth straight week of gains for the first time since Feb. 24.

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Dollar index

— Hakyung Kim, Gina Francolla

Producer price index rises more than expected in July

The producer price index, a gauge of how much wholesalers pay for raw goods, rose more than expected last month, advancing 0.3%. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected an increase of 0.2%.

— Fred Imbert