Asian shares mixed after China warning on risks, stagflation

Stocks were mixed in Asia on Monday after ending the week mostly lower on Wall Street, despite the Nasdaq's first close above 16,000.

A resurgence of coronavirus outbreaks in the U.S., Europe and some other regions is weighing on investor sentiment. Comments by advisers to the Chinese central bank about risks of “stagflation,” meanwhile, have reinforced concerns about inflationary pressures.

The Shanghai Composite index gained 0.7% to 3,583.37, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 0.4% to 24,962.11.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 edged 0.1% lower to 29,717.58. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 500 gave up 0.4% to 7,368.00.

Shares fell in India but rose in Taiwan.

Attention has turned to the People's Bank of China as Beijing strives to curb risks from excessive borrowing by property developers but still keep the economy growing.

An adviser to the PBOC, Liu Shijin, told a conference over the weekend that China needed to avoid “quasi-stagflation," Bloomberg reported.

Another economist, Jia Kang, echoed that sentiment, saying that if the pace of economic growth is slower than the inflation rate, “then how can we formulate a prescription for macro-control?"

Ting Lu of Nomura noted that controls on property lending, fresh waves of COVID-19 outbreaks and strict policies to fight them and surging prices are all adding to China's policy challenges.

“A raft of meeting memos and policy reports show that Beijing is becoming increasingly concerned about the growth slump and has begun to take action to shift its policy stance in order to prevent growth from sliding further," Ting said in a report.

On Friday, the S&P 500 index gave up 0.1% to 4,697.96 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.8% to 35,601.98.

The Nasdaq added 0.4% to...