Stocks on the move
In corporate developments, shares of Alibaba in Hong Kong soared more than 7% in early trading on Monday. The moves came after Chinese regulators slapped the firm with a 18.23 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) fine in its anti-monopoly probe of the tech juggernaut.
Elsewhere, shares of South Korea’s LG Chem and SK Innovation jumped 1.97% and 13.87%, respectively. That came after battery makers LG Energy Solution, which was spun-off from LG Chem last year, and SK Innovation came to a settlement over a trade secrets dispute.
Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 92.261 following its decline earlier this month from above 92.8.
The Japanese yen traded at 109.51 per dollar, stronger than levels above 110.5 against the greenback seen last week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7606 following turbulent trade last week that saw it swinging from above $0.765 to around $0.759.
Oil prices were higher in the morning of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures up 0.49% to $63.26 per barrel. U.S. crude futures gained 0.4% to $59.56 per barrel.
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