Asian shares mostly higher on stimulus moves, jobs data

Shares were mostly higher in Asia on Monday after President Donald Trump issued executive orders to provide tax relief and stopgap unemployment benefits for Americans hit by the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

Shares rose Monday in Sydney, Shanghai and Seoul, while markets were closed in Tokyo for a holiday.

“It has been an unusually risk-friendly start to the Monday proceedings, but there is still a lot of wood to be chopped on the U.S. stimulus deal, while Aug. 15 trade talks loom ominously," Stephen Innes of AxiCorp said in a commentary.

Stock prices fell in Hong Kong after the authorities arrested pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai on suspicion of collusion with foreign powers.

The Hang Seng index dropped 0.5% to 24,419.91.

An aide to Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai says Lai was arrested under the city’s national security law. Hong Kong police said seven people had been arrested on suspicion of violating that law. They did not reveal the names of those arrested.

The national security law came into effect June 30 and is widely seen as a means to curb dissent after anti-government protests rocked Hong Kong last year. It has raised questions over whether and to what extent Communist Party leaders in Beijing will respect the “one-party, two-systems" arrangement promised to the former British colony for a half-century after China took control of the semi-autonomous in 1997.

Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea's Kospi jumped 0.9% to 2,371.73 and the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia surged 1.2% to 6,078.00. The Shanghai Composite index edged 0.3% higher to 3,361.91.

Markets in Japan and several other countries were closed for holidays.

China reported its consumer price index rose to 2.7% in July from 2.5% in June as flooding disrupted farming across much of the...