Asian shares traded mostly in red on Monday following data, after the Wall Street ended last week on a tough note, pulling US markets off record highs. The slump came after a decline in Chinese investment in November, highlighting the ongoing weakness in the world’s second-largest economy. Hong Kong’s HSI was down 0.92% or 240 points to 25,736. Nikkei also dipped 745 points or 1.47% to reach 50,090, of 10:25 AM IST.Shanghai and Shenzhen were down 0.11% and 0.71%, respectively. South Korean Kospi, also traded at a loss of 1.53%, down to 4,103. Tokyo’s Nikkei slumped as traders anticipated whether the Bank of Japan (BOJ) would raise its benchmark interest rate this week. Japan’s economy contracted at an annualised rate of 2.3% in the July-September quarter, the first decline in six quarters. A US-Japan agreement limiting baseline import tariffs to 15% further eased uncertainty for automakers and electronics firms, analysts said. Stronger tankan results could encourage the BOJ to proceed with a 0.25 percentage point rate hike, taking the key rate to 0.75%. In China, fixed-asset investment declined 2.6% in November year-on-year, suggesting an 11.1% drop over the first 11 months of the year. Retail sales growth slowed to 4% rise, and industrial output rose 4.8% in the same period. The data followed a high-level meeting of China’s Communist Party leadership last week, which produced no major policy changes but reaffirmed efforts to stimulate consumer spending and investment.Meanwhile in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.7% to 8,640.60, while Taiwan’s benchmark index lost 1.1%. US futures were up 0.3% for both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average. On Friday, the S&P 500 fell 1.1% to 6,827.41, marking its worst day in three weeks. The Nasdaq dropped 1.7% to 23,195.17, dragged down by tech stocks, while the Dow fell 0.5% to 48,458.05. Broadcom, a major AI chipmaker, plunged 11.4% despite stronger-than-expected quarterly profits. CEO Hock Tan highlighted that a 74% growth in AI semiconductor revenue drove the results. Oracle also fell nearly 11% after beating profit expectations, while Nvidia dropped 3.3% and Oracle fell an additional 4.5%. Companies reliant on US consumer spending were more resilient, with two in five S&P 500 stocks rising. Oil prices eased this week, potentially providing some relief for consumers. Earlier in the day, US benchmark crude rose 30 cents to $57.74 per barrel, and Brent crude gained 29 cents to $61.41 per barrel. The US dollar fell slightly to 155.37 Japanese yen from 155.75 yen on Friday, while the euro remained unchanged at $1.1739.