Oil Outlook Dulls Asian Stock Markets

Asian stock markets turned in uneven results Monday, as traders weighed higher oil prices amid fresh Persian Gulf hostilities.

Brent crude was last up 3.6% at $91.23 a barrel.

Hong Kong and Tokyo edged into the red, while Shanghai gained. Other regional exchanges were also mixed.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 opened lower on crude prices and tracked north thereafter, but still slipped 0.1% on the day.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 93.63 to 66,311.93, although rising issues outnumbered losers 130 to 91.

Leading the upside was Tokai Carbon, up 7.7%, while Mitsubishi Materials declined 6.6%.

In economic news, Japan's retail sales grew 4% annually and 2.4% sequentially in July, reported the Ministry of Economy Trade & Industry (METI).

The nation's industrial production last month rose 4.1% year over year and 0.1% month on month, said METI.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index opened lower and could not recover, closing down 0.1% as property issues declined after a regulatory change from Beijing.

The broad gauge Hang Seng fell 17.80 to 25,566.99, as losing issues outnumbered gainers 59 to 33. The Hang Seng TECH Index gained 0.3% on the day, while the Mainland Properties Index fell 6.2%.

Leading the upside was BYD Electronic, gaining 9.1%, while China Resources Land tumbled 9.4%.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.9% to 3,986.3.

In economic news, China's property developers will no longer be able to collect "pre-sale" cash from buyers, during construction and before a project is completed, under new rules announced by the People's Bank of China and other agencies Friday.

Developers in China have used such pre-sales to fund construction. Going forward, residential mortgages will be issued only after projects are complete.

On the other regional exchanges, the S. Korean KOSPI rose 0.5%; the Taiwan TWSE declined 0.4%; the Australian ASX 200 fell 0.2%; the Singapore Straits Times Index rose 1%, and the Thai Set inclined 0.4%. In late trading in Mumbai, the Sensex was down 0.4%

The MSCI All Country Asia Pacific Index rose 0.1% on the day.