China stocks tumble 2%, rest of Asia struggles to hold gains

Asian stock markets gave up an early lead on Monday, with Chinese stocks leading the declines, amid worries about U.S.-China trade relations and continued tech-stock weakness on Wall Street. Down from the start of trading, the Shanghai Composite dropped 2.4% and the smaller-cap Shenzhen Composite 399106, -2.02% fell 0.7%.

Hong Kong stocks joined regional peers recovering from Friday’s global selloff, though early out-of-gate gains were whittled in a few minutes. The benchmark Hang Seng Index HSI, +0.38% lost 0.2%, after a 1% gain at the open. Chinese property developers such as Sino Land 0083, -2.39% , fell over 3%, as China Resources Land 1109, +1.15% gave up leads of more than 1%. Most Chinese automakers listed in Hong Kong were down heavily, with Great Wall Motor 2333, -8.09% losing 7.9%.

Japan’s Nikkei NIK, -0.16% reversed a gain of around 0.6% to drop 0.2%. Still, some major companies were under pressure, with Toyota 7203, -1.65% and SoftBank 9984, -1.41% lower by more than 1%. But Honda 7267, +0.25% was up marginally, a day ahead of its earnings report. South Korea’s Kospi SEU, -1.53% dropped close to 1%, with Samsung 005930, +0.98% a standout gainer, up 1%.

Australia’s ASX 200 XJO, +1.11% finished up almost 1%, led by the energy and financial sectors. New Zealand’s benchmark NZ50GR, +0.55% was up slightly. Benchmark indexes in Taiwan Y9999, +0.29% , Singapore STI, +0.32% and Malaysia FBMKLCI, +0.04% posted modest gains as well.