Asian stock markets posted widespread declines in early trading Tuesday.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index HSI, -2.80% was in catchup mode after Monday’s holiday and indexes fell around 3%. China Construction Bank 0939, -3.72% , Ping An Insurance 2318, -3.67% and oil giant CNOOC 0883, -3.69% were all down more than 4%, while shipping company Orient Overseas 0316, +1.51% jumped after its $6.3 billion acquisition by China’s Cosco 600428, -0.58% .
Meanwhile, Korea’s Kospi SEU, -0.25% remained in positive territory most of the morning, while Japan’s Nikkei NIK, -0.59% struggled to remain above water and entered the midday break down 0.03%.
Standing out was New Zealand, which barely dropped Monday. The NZX 50 NZ50GR, +1.07% was up 1% and looking to set a record closing high. Australia XJO, +0.47% , too, saw gains.
In China, the Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, -1.27% sank after initial gains, a day after touching two-year lows, while the Shenzhen Composite 399106, -1.35% continued to drop.
Markets in Taiwan Y9999, -0.18% , Singapore STI, -0.44% and Malaysia FBMKLCI, -0.47% all fell.
