Shares in Asia drop as failure to freeze oil output weighs

Category: Stock Market

Asian sahres fell on Monday as markets took a dim view of failure by major oil producers to freeze output, ensuring a global glut of the commodity for the time being.The yuan rose against the dollar on Monday after the People's Bank of China set a first stronger fixing for three sessions at 6.4787 comparedwith 6.4908.The Shanghai Composite was down 1.31%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 1.21%. The Nikkei 225 fell 2.92%, while the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.27%.Earlier, New Zealand said first quarter consumer prices rose 0.2%, more than the 0.1% seen quarter-on-quarter and a 0.4% gain seen year-on-year which came in as expected.The data are in line with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's projections in its March Monetary Policy Statement, according to ASB chief economist Nick Tuffley."Overall, the data published by Stats NZ suggest that, although core inflation pressure is still low, they are starting to lift which may provide the RBNZ with confidence that inflation expectations will also stabilize and recover," Tuffley said.In China, house prices rose 4.9% for March year-on-year, above the 3.6% gain seen.Last week, U.S. stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Oil & Gas, Technology and Financials sectors led shares lower.At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.16%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.10%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0.16%.