Asia report: Shares mixed as China holds rates, Trump imposes visa fee

(Sharecast News) - Asian shares were mixed on Monday as investors assessed the Chinese central bank's decision to leave rates unchanged and US President Donald Trump's plan to impose large fees on visas for foreign workers. The People's Bank of China left its one-year and five-year loan prime rates at 3.00% and 3.50% as the world's second largest economy looked to mitigate the impact of the ongoing trade war with the US.

The Shanghai Composite index edged 0.07% lower to 3,817, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 1.15% at 26,241.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 rallied 1% to 45,520 after falls last week over concerns about the Bank of Japan's selling its holdings.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.43% to 8,811.10. South Korea's Kospi fell 0.46% to 3,445.

Trump late on Friday announced plans to impose a $100,000 fee on H-1B visas, largely used by tech and finance companies to bring in staff due to skills shortages in the US.

CNBC reported that Amazon, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Microsoft had told staff on the visas to avoid international travel or return to the US to avoid jeopardising their immigration status.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com