SHANGHAI: In Australia, the ASX 200 closed down 11.58 points, or 0.19 percent, at 5,945.67. The heavily-weighted financial subindex was down 0.41 percent, while the energy sector trimmed morning gains to rise 0.11 percent.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 135.04 points, or 0.6 percent, to 22,261.76, while the Topix index was down 4.11 points, or 0.23 percent, at 1,759.65. In South Korea, the Kospi gave up early morning gains to close down 6.32 points, or 0.25 percent, at 2,527.67.
Chinese markets retraced losses to climb in afternoon trade. The Shanghai composite closed up 10.11 points, or 0.3 percent, at 3,393.02 while the Shenzhen composite added 17.63 points, or 0.9 percent, to 1,971.93.
One focus for investors: Analysts were cautiously optimistic about the U.S. tax reform getting done this year. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Friday that he expects a Republican tax reform bill to be sent to President Donald Trump by Christmas.
Mnuchin made his comments a day after the House passed a bill aimed at overhauling the tax code. The Senate now has to vote on its version of a tax plan. One commentator told CNBC on Monday that he was advising investors to not make any investment decisions until there was more clarity on the tax reform.
Jim Lowell, CIO at Adviser Investments, told CNBC’s “The Rundown” that the tax reform plan at the moment is more theoretical than practical. He pointed out that tax reforms also tend to have intended and unintended consequences that are both positive and negative.
“There’ll be plenty of time to digest the plan, if it actually does turn into some mode of enactment,” Lowell said. “There’ll also be plenty of time to figure out how to maneuver as the revisions go forward. But I would definitely advise investors to not make any investment move today based on the fact that they don’t know how this tax reform plan is going to play out.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar traded at 93.954 against a basket of currencies at 3:00 p.m. HK/SIN, hovering near the 94.00 level it saw in the previous week. Among other currency majors, the Japanese yen traded at 112.03 to the dollar, while the Australian dollar fetched $0.7563.
The euro traded at $1.1738, slipping from levels above $1.1760 reached in the previous week. The move in the common currency came after reports emerged that German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s efforts to form a coalition government had failed, thus making the political outlook for Europe’s largest economy uncertain.
