06:46 AM EDT, 10/14/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Asian stock markets were uneven Monday, as traders considered a weekend economic press conference held in Beijing and fresh inflation reports from China.

Hong Kong lost ground, but Shanghai and other regional exchanges finished higher. Bangkok and Tokyo were closed on holiday.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index finished down 0.7% after Beijing released soft inflation reports for September on Sunday. The reports pointed to a sluggish mainland economy, and tech issues weakened.

In addition, investors were underwhelmed by a touted weekend press conference in Beijing, wherein China Finance Minister Lan Fo'an discussed new government debt-swap programs, but left the scope and details uncertain, reported the South China Morning Post.

The broad gauge Hang Seng fell 159.11 to 21,092.80, as losing issues outnumbered gainers 49 to 31. The Hang Seng TECH Index lost 1.4% on the day, but the Mainland Properties Index rose 2.1%.

Leading the upside was China Resources Land, gaining 5.8%, while apparel-house ANTA Sports fell 8.7%.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite rose 2.1% to 3,284.32.

In economic news, mainland China's consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.4% on the year in September, well below the 3% annual target of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), reported the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Sunday.

The nation's core inflation rate, which strips out certain volatile food and energy inputs, rose a scant 0.1% on the year.

China's producer price index (PPI) fell by 2.8% on year in September, added the NBS.

On the other regional exchanges, the S. Korean KOSPI rose 1%; the Taiwan TWSE inclined 0.3%; the Australian ASX 200 inclined 0.5% and the Singapore Straits Times Index rose 0.6%. In late trading in Mumbai, the Sensex was up 0.7%.

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