Asia opens mostly lower

Asian stock indices opened the first session of the week mostly lower with China, Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong losing ground, while South Korea bucked the trend, with Japanese markets closing for a bank holiday.

Finance led the losses, especially HSBC and Standard Chartered on  accusations of allowing tainted money to circle through their channels for nearly two decades, while the People's Bank of China voted to maintain one year interest rates at 3.85% and five year rates at 4.65%. 

China's CSI 300 fell 0.23%, while Shanghai declined 0.23% to 3,330. 

Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 0.64%, while South Korea's KOSPI rose 0.03% to 2,413. 

New Zealand's NZX 50 declined 0.52%, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gave up 0.65% to 5,826.