Asian markets ended mostly lower on Monday tracking Wall Street’s fall last Friday, as spiking crude oil prices and global bond yields revived inflation fears, and a raft of Chinese data signalled slowing economic momentum in April. Meanwhile, a drone strike caused a fire at a nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia reported intercepting three drones, escalating regional tensions. US President Donald Trump issued a fresh warning to Iran on Sunday, saying it had to move quickly towards a peace deal or ‘there won't be anything left of them’. Japanese shares declined as technology-related stocks succumbed to profit taking following recent strong gains. Besides, the 10-year Japanese government bond yield climbed to its multi-decade high due to intensifying inflation concerns and Bank of Japan (BoJ) rate hike expectations. However, Seoul shares recovered from an early slide, with Samsung Electronics jumped 3.9% after South Korea’s government stepped in to help avert a looming labour union strike.
| Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
| Shanghai Composite | 4,131.53 | -3.86 | -0.09 |
| Hang Seng | 25,675.18 | -287.55 | -1.11 |
| Jakarta Composite | 6,599.24 | -124.08 | -1.88 |
| KLSE Composite | 1,727.71 | -12.51 | -0.72 |
| Nikkei 225 | 60,815.95 | -593.34 | -0.97 |
| Straits Times | 4,996.75 | 7.67 | 0.15 |
| KOSPI Composite | 7,516.04 | 22.86 | 0.31 |
| Taiwan Weighted | 40,891.82 | -280.54 | -0.68 |
