Asian and Pacific Rim financial and equity markets were mostly mixed Monday morning. The Japanese markets were closed for a public holiday making for thin trade volume.
In corporate news, two Asian area banks, Standard Chartered and HSBC have been embroiled in a scandal suggesting that they moved large amounts of suspicious funds.
There is also geopolitical news hitting the headlines after the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
President Donald Trump as promised to nominate a replacement this week fracturing an already deeply politically divided nation. U.S. national elections are just about 56 days away and the Democrats are saying it is wrong to jam a nomination before the American voters chose a new president.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index was down half a percent by the late morning. In South Korea, the Kospi composite index was up a fraction of a percent and elsewhere in the Asian and Pacific Rim, the Australian S&P ASX 200 was down over 0.7 percent.
On the mainland, in China, the equity bourses were mixed. The Shanghai composite was down 0.1 percent and the Shenzhen component added over 0.1 percent,
The Peoples’ Bank of China (PBOC), China’s central bank, left their fiver year loan prime rate (LPR) at 4.65 percent and their one year loan prime rate at 3.85 percent.
Asian Traders Monitor Corporate Banking Headlines
Shares of Standard Chartered Bank, listed on the Hong Kong, as well as HSBC bank tumbled after news broke that they are being accused of moving large sums of suspicious funds.
Shares of Standard Chartered gave up 2.96 percent and HSBC shed over 3.2 percent. Both banks have been accused, along with several other global banks, of moving suspicious funds over the last twenty years. The reports cited confidential documents released by the United States.