06:50 AM EDT, 03/25/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Asian stock markets fell back Monday, as traders booked profits in Taiwan and Japanese exchanges trading near record-highs, and eyed US futures markets flashing red.

Earnings season hit full stride in Hong Kong and Shanghai, shunting some investors to the sidelines.

Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo finished on the downside, as did most other regional exchanges.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 opened lower on Wall Street cues, and declined as a modestly stronger yen undercut export issues.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 474.31 to 40,414.12, stepping back from Friday's all-time record-high close, as losing issues outnumbered gainers 192 to 30.

Leading the upside was Japan Steel Works, up 4.7%, while electronics house Sharp declined 6.8%.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index opened evenly and slipped in trading, finishing down 0.2% as traders awaited a large slug of earnings releases. Of 82 companies listed on the Hang Seng Index, 26 will report earnings this week.

The broad gauge Hang Seng fell 25.83 to 16,473.64, as losing issues outnumbered gainers 48 to 34. The Hang Seng TECH Index lost 0.5% on the day, while the Mainland Properties Index rose 1.4%.

Leading the upside was aluminum producer China Hongqiao, up 13.4%, while computer maker Lenovo brought up the rear, falling 8.6%.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.7% to 3,026.31.

On the other regional exchanges, the S. Korean KOSPI fell 0.4%; the Taiwan TWSE declined 0.2%; the Australian ASX 200 inclined 0.5%; the Singapore Straits Times Index fell 0.6%, and the Thai Set declined 0.6%. In late trading in Mumbai, the Sensex was up 0.3%.

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