Major Asia-Pacific markets were lower on Monday, some substantially.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng swooned 504.72 points, or 2.1%, to 23,950.69.
Hong Kong-listed shares of Standard Chartered and HSBC tumbled on Monday following reports that they allegedly moved large sums of suspicious funds.
By Monday afternoon, shares of Standard Chartered plummeted 6.2%. HSBC also plunged 5.3% to lows not seen in more than 25-years. The moves came after the banks — among several global lenders — were identified in media reports as having allegedly moved suspicious funds over a period of nearly two decades.
The reports cited confidential documents submitted by banks to the U.S. government.
Markets in Japan were shuttered Monday for holiday. was at 93.14 following an earlier low of 92.749.
The Japanese yen traded at 104.02 per U.S. dollar after strengthening in the previous trading week from levels above 105.6 against the greenback.
The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7279 after touching an earlier an earlier high of $0.7324.
CHINA
The CSI 300 dropped 45.66 points, or 1%, to 4,691.43.
China’s benchmark lending rates on Monday were kept unchanged, the one-year loan prime rate at 3.85% and the five–year LPR at 4.65%.
In other markets
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index lost 12 points, or 0.5%, to 2.485.71.
In Korea, the Kospi fell 23.01 points, or 1%, to 2,389.39.
In Taiwan, the Taiex index folded 80.5 points, or 0.6%, to 12,795.12.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 flopped 94.42 points, or 0.8%, to 11,539.10.
In Australia, the ASX 200 went south 41.88 points, or 0.7%, to 5,822.62.
