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Asian stocks fell broadly on Monday as Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race against Donald Trump and China’s central bank unexpectedly lowered its one-year benchmark loan prime rate to bolster a slowing economy<\/span>. <\/p>\n The dollar eased slightly as Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the new Democratic nominee.<\/p>\n Gold held steady above $2,400 per ounce while oil prices edged up slightly in Asian trade after having hit a four-week low on Friday. <\/p>\n China’s Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.61 percent to 2,964.22, getting little lift from the surprise 10-bps cut in short-term rates by the country’s central bank. <\/p>\n Hong Kong’s tech-heavy Hang Seng climbed 1.25 percent to 17,635.88 after recent Japanese markets<\/span> fell sharply to hit a three-week low as chip-related stocks such as Shin-Etsu Chemical, Tokyo Electron and Advantest tumbled 2-4 percent. <\/p>\n The Nikkei average dropped 1.16 percent to 39,599, extending losses for a fourth straight session. The broader Topix index settled 1.16 percent lower at 2,827.53.<\/p>\n Seoul stocks declined, with battery and energy-related stocks pacing the declines. The Kospi average ended 1.14 percent lower at 2,763.51.<\/p>\n LG Energy Solution slumped 4.9 percent, Samsung SDI gave up 4.2 percent, SK Innovation shed 3.9 percent and LG Chem fell over 4 percent. <\/p>\n Australian markets closed lower on valuation concerns. The benchmark S&P\/ASX 200 dipped half a percent to 7,931.70 while the broader All Ordinaries index ended down 0.52 percent at 8,166.40.<\/p>\n Woodside Energy fell 2.1 percent after it has entered a definitive agreement to acquire U.S. liquefied natural gas developer Tellurian.<\/p>\n Diversified miner South 32 plummeted 12.6 percent after reporting $818 million of impairment charges.<\/p>\n Across the Tasman, New Zealand’s benchmark S&P\/NZX-50 index slipped 0.13 percent to 12,309.91. <\/p>\n U.S. stocks ended firmly in the red on Friday amid a continued selloff in technology<\/span> stocks. Also, a major global technical outage added uncertainty to an already-anxious market.<\/p>\n The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 0.8 percent and the S&P 500 gave up 0.7 percent to post their biggest weekly losses since April while the Dow declined 0.9 percent and managed to post a slight gain for the week. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Business News<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
string of losses on concerns about U.S. restrictions against China’s semiconductor industry. <\/p>\n