Asian stock markets, barring India, fell sharply on Monday, as the strengthening of yen hurt Japanese exporters and shares of rail-related companies plunged in Shanghai following the weekend's collusion of two high-speed trains in the city of Wenzhou in the eastern province of Zhejiang.
Lackluster cues from Wall Street, weaker commodity prices amid the uncertainty over the U.S. debt saga and Moody's downgrading of Greece's sovereign debt ratings by three notches also hurt investor sentiment.
Gold extended last week's gains to hit a record high, as stalled talks between Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress raised fears over a possible sovereign debt default.
Japan's Nikkei average snapped three days of gains to end 0.8 percent lower, with export shares bearing the brunt of the selling due to the strengthening yen. The broader Topix index also closed down around 0.8 percent. Among export-linked shares, Honda Motor lost 1.6 percent, Toyota Motor fell 1.4 percent and Sony dropped 2.2 percent.
Komatsu fell 3.1 percent and Hitachi Construction Machinery declined 1.5 percent after U.S.-based Caterpillar, the world's biggest maker of construction and mining equipment, reported disappointing earnings for the second quarter. Yahoo Japan closed down 3.7 percent after reporting a 7.6 percent rise in April-June quarter net profit. Shares of Inpex closed unchanged after the nation's top oil and gas developer said it would sell a 30 percent stake in Indonesia's Abadi gas field in the Masela block of the Timor Sea to an affiliate of Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
China's Shanghai Composite index tumbled almost 3 percent after a deadly high-speed train wrecking accident in East China's Zhejiang Province, which killed at least 36 people and injured more than 200, dealt a blow to China's ambitious plans to expand high-speed rail across the country. Train makers CSR Corp. and China CNR Corp, plunged over 8 percent each after the government ordered a two-month inspection on rail safety.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed down 0.7 percent, dragged down by railway-related shares such as China South Locomotive and China Northern Locomotive which lost around 13 percent and 10 percent, respectively.
The Australian market fell, spooked by the threat of a U.S. default. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 closed down 1.6 percent, while the broader All Ordinaries lost 1.5 percent. Financials bore the brunt of the selling due to the nervousness on the U.S. debt ceiling issue. NAB fell 2.3 percent, Commonwealth declined 1.9 percent and Westpac shed 1.6 percent. Meanwhile, Australian banks have little direct exposure to the sovereign debt of the riskiest European countries and are more resilient to any disruption in credit markets, Reserve Bank of Australia Assistant Governor Malcolm Edey said at a conference.
Big miner BHP Billiton eased 0.9 percent and rival Rio Tinto closed down half a percent. Newcrest rose 0.8 percent after gold rose to a record high in Sydney. Shares in toll road operator Transurban fell 3.4 percent after Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Canada's second-biggest pension manager, said it divested about 12 percent of the issued capital in the company.
Australia's producer prices, a key measure of inflation, rose 0.8 percent in the second quarter of 2011 compared to the previous three months, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said. That topped forecasts for a 0.5 percent increase following the 1.2 percent gain in the first quarter. On an annual basis, producer prices were up 3.4 percent following the 2.9 percent gain in Q1.
South Korea's Kospi average fell about a percent, reversing the previous session's gains, after U.S. debt talks over the weekend failed to achieve a breakthrough. Tech shares lost ground, with Samsung Electronics declining 0.4 percent, LG Display losing 1.9 percent and LG Electronics ending down a percent. Hynix Semiconductor bucked the trend to end 0.6 percent higher.
Steel maker Posco closed 0.4 percent higher on earnings expectations for the fourth quarter after posting a 17 percent fall in April-June quarter net profit. Kia Motor closed up 1.3 percent after it said on Friday it had agreed with its union on this year's wage settlement. Shares of Hyundai Motor closed down 1.1 percent.
New Zealand's benchmark NZX-50 index shed 0.6 percent, snapping a four-day winning steak. New Zealand Oil & Gas led the decliners after ASX-listed AWE, the operator of the Tui field, downgraded its estimate for probable reserves by between 18 percent and 22 percent. Shares of NZ Oil & Gas closed down 13.1 percent at a seven-year low.
AMP, the wealth manager, slumped 4.1 percent, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, the nation's biggest lender tumbled 3.6 percent, and Australian lender Westpac banking closed down 2.6 percent. Medical device manufacturer Fisher & Paykel Healthcare fell 2.8 percent, weighed down by the strength of the New Zealand dollar.
India's BSE Sensex shrugged off weak global cues and was last trading up 0.8 percent. Bharti Airtel was trading up 5.5 percent at a 52-week high after the telecom giant hiked call rates in six telecom circles. Heavyweight Reliance Industries was up 1.4 percent after the government approved a $7.2 billion deal between the company and British oil giant BP Plc. Retailers such as Pantaloon Retail and Shoppers Stop were up around 2 percent each after a ministerial panel recommended 51 percent foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail.
Elsewhere, Indonesia's Jakarta Composite index was down half a percent, Malaysia's KLSE Composite eased 0.4 percent, Singapore's Straits Times was down 0.4 percent and the Taiwan Weighted drifted down 0.9 percent.
U.S. stocks closed on a mixed note on Friday, with a lack of progress in talks over how to cut the U.S. deficit hurting sentiment. While impressive earnings data from AMD lifted the Nasdaq by 0.9 percent, weak results from Caterpillar pushed the Dow to a negative close. The S&P 500 closed little changed with a positive bias.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.