Investing.com - Hong Kong shares dropped on Monday as a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in the city outweighed solid gains in the U.S. market Friday.
The Hang Seng Index fell 1.4% as the standoff between protesters and the police continued Monday morning. The index has rallied since early May to hit a year-to-date high of 25,317.95 on Sept. 3, but has since lost 6.5%.
A campaign demanding free elections in the city has continued, despite police attempts to use tear gas Sunday evening to disperse crowds.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.9%, while the Nikkei 225 was up 0.3%, and near the break-even point for the year.
Investors in China are also waiting for HSBC PLC's final reading on China's purchasing managers index for September later Monday.
Last week, U.S. stocks rose on Friday as investors applauded robust U.S. gross domestic product data.
The Dow 30 rose 0.99%, the S&P 500 index rose 0.86%, while the NASDAQ Composite index rose 1.02%.
The Commerce Department said U.S. gross domestic product expanded at an annual rate of 4.6% in the second quarter, in line with the consensus forecast, after contracting by 2.1% in the first three months of the year.
U.S. second quarter GDP was initially reported to have increased by 4.2%.
The positive data fueled already growing expectations for rate hikes to kick in earlier next year than once anticipated, though expectations for a more robust economy boosted stock prices by fueling hopes for beefier top corporate lines.
Separately, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan final consumer sentiment index remained unchanged at 84.6 this month, just shy of expectations for an uptick to 84.7 though solid enough to boost stock prices.
Also piquing investor interest was news that Bill Gross, head of Pimco, the world's largest bond fund, was stepping down and moving to Janus Capital Group Inc.
On Monday, in the euro zone, Germany and Spain are to release preliminary data on consumer price inflation, which accounts for the majority of overall inflation.
The U.K. is to release a report on net lending.
The U.S. is to produce data on personal income and expenditure, as well as a private sector report on pending home sales.