Waterfront city skyline of Sydney city downtown at night with bright illumination of modern architectural landmarks in Sydney, Australia.
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Australian stocks fell Monday after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese returned to power, while most Asian markets were closed for holidays.
Albanese is the country’s first prime minister to clinch a second consecutive term in 21 years, indicating Australians’ desire for policy continuity amid an uncertain global macroeconomic outlook.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.83%, reversing course from strong gains in its last session when it hit its highest level since Feb. 27.
The Australian dollar appreciated by 0.33% against the greenback to trade at 0.6462.
The offshore Chinese yuan appreciated marginally against the U.S. dollar to 7.206, after hitting its strongest level since November 2024 earlier in the session.
The New Taiwanese dollar continued to strengthen, appreciating 3.14% against the greenback to 29.741, hitting its strongest level in nearly three years
Taiwan’s benchmark Taiex declined 1.31% in choppy trade.
Japanese, South Korean, Hong Kong and Chinese markets were closed for public holidays.
Oil prices plunged after OPEC+ agreed to raise production for a second month. Brent crude was last down 3.62% at $59.07 a barrel, while the West Texas Intermediate crude fell 3.95% to $56 per barrel.
U.S. futures edged down, reversing course from strong wins in Wall Street last week.
The broad-based S&P 500 ended Friday’s session 1.47% higher at 5,686.67. This marked its ninth consecutive day of gains and is its longest winning run since November 2004. The benchmark also managed to recover all losses incurred since April 2, when U.S. President Donald Trump announced retaliatory tariffs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 564.47 points, or 1.39%, to end at 41,317.43, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.51% to 17,977.73.
— CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Hakyung Kim contributed to this report.