Asian markets mixed; China Evergrande shares suspended

Asian markets were mixed on Monday, with Hong Kong’s benchmark down more than 2% after troubled property developer China Evergrande’s shares were suspended from trading.

China Evergrande did not say why it halted trading of its shares, but a Chinese financial news service, Cailian, said another major developer was planning to buy Evergrande's property management unit.

Evergrande is struggling to make payments on more than $300 billion of debt as it endures a cash crunch brought on by a tightening of Chinese government restrictions on debt-leveraged financing.

The Hang Seng sank 2.5% to 23,96.25 while Tokyo's Nikkei 225 dropped 1.1% to 28,444.89. Shares fell 1% in Taiwan.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 climbed 1.3% to 7,246.10. On Friday, its government outlined plans to lift a pandemic ban on its vaccinated citizens traveling overseas from November, though it has yet to reopen to international travelers.

Markets were closed for holidays in Shanghai and South Korea.

Crude prices fell slightly ahead of a meeting of major oil producers. There was no sign that a spill from a pipeline off the California coast was having an impact on prices.

An estimated 126,000 gallons (572,807 liters) of heavy crude were thought to have leaked from an underwater pipeline offshore from Orange County. By late Sunday the leak was reported stanched.

The environmental impact was likely to be much worse than any effect on overall oil supplies. The amount leaked was about 3,000 barrels, while the U.S. produces more than 18 million barrels of crude oil a day.

U.S. benchmark crude oil shed 30 cents to $75.49 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile exchange. It gained 85 cents to $75.88 per barrel on Friday.

Brent crude, the international standard for pricing, lost 38 cents to...