SINGAPORE – Shares in Asia-Pacific traded on Monday as investors watched movements in the Turkish lira following a sudden upheaval in the country’s central bank.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 1.91% in morning trading, while the Topix index fell 1.25%. Kospi, South Korea, fell 0.23%.
Elsewhere, mainland Chinese markets rose, with the Shanghai composite more than 1%, while the Shenzhen component rose 1.259%.
Meanwhile, equities in Australia were higher, with the S & P / ASX 200 up 0.47%.
MSCI’s broader Asia-Pacific stock index traded 0.37% higher.
The lyre weakens sharply
Investors watched the Turkish lira on Monday, with the currency weakening sharply to 8.0897 against the green dollar, compared to levels below 7.5 per dollar seen last week. Earlier, the lira had weakened to 8,145 against the green dollar.
The strong move came after the country’s central bank had a new upheaval, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan abruptly replaced his head a few days after a sharp rise in interest rates.
On Monday, China’s one-year primary loan rate (LPR) and China’s five-year LPR remained unchanged at 3.85% and 4.65%, respectively. This was in line with the expectations of most traders and analysts in a quick Reuters poll.
In corporate development, shares of Japanese chip maker Renesas Electronics fell about 4% in Monday morning trading. The firm announced over the weekend that it would take at least a month to restart production at a facility that was damaged by the fire on Friday. This development took place as the world is already facing a global shortage of chips.
Coins
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, stood at 92.111 after its recent recovery of levels below 91.5.
The Japanese yen was trading at 108.91 per dollar, stronger than levels above 109.2 against the green dollar seen last week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $ 0.7714, below the levels above the $ 0.78 seen last week.