Asian shares mixed as Japan says economy contracted in 3Q

Shares were mixed in Asia on Monday, with the specter of inflation weighing on sentiment.

Shares rose in Tokyo, Sydney and Seoul but fell in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Japan reported that its economy contracted in the July-September quarter amid tighter pandemic restrictions that hit consumer spending.

In annual terms, the economy shrank at a 0.3% rate. It contracted 0.8% from the previous quarter.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is due to present a major stimulus package this week, with spending of up to 40 trillion yen ($350 billion).

A recent sharp decline in new coronavirus cases has enabled the country to relax restrictions on business and other activities, and that coupled with the government spending is expected to fuel a solid rebound for the last quarter of the year.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index gained 0.5% to 29,473.23 while the Kospi in South Korea surged 1% to 2,999.34. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.3% to 7,464.90.

China's latest data update was a mixed bag, with stronger retail sales and factory output but weaker housing prices and investments in fixed assets.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index edged 0.1% lower to 25,307.34, while the Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.3% to 3,528.88.

In Beijing, a new stock exchange set up to serve entrepreneurs opened trading Monday with 81 companies amid a crackdown on tech giants that has wiped more than $1 trillion off their market value abroad.

It joins others in Shanghai and the southern city of Shenzhen. Mainland exchanges are mostly off-limits to foreign investors and were set up mainly to raise funds for state-owned companies. President Xi Jinping said in September the Beijing exchange would “create a service-innovation-oriented main position for small and medium-size enterprises,” the ruling party’s term for...