Asian stocks mixed in quiet end of year trading

Major share benchmarks are mostly lower in Asia at the outset of the last trading week of the year as countries grapple with the spread of the omicron coronavirus variant

BANGKOK -- Major share benchmarks were mostly lower in Asia on Monday at the outset of the last trading week of the year as countries grappled with the spread of the omicron coronavirus variant.

Benchmarks fell in Shanghai, Bangkok, Tokyo and Seoul. Taiwan and India were higher. Many global markets are closed for holidays.

Comments by China's central bank, or People's Bank of China, over the weekend about support for the economy highlighted differences in stances among major economies balancing the need to support economic recoveries from the pandemic while keeping inflation in check.

The Federal Reserve is among a handful of central banks that have already begun cutting interest rates or otherwise cutting back on the extra support they provided when the pandemic first slammed world economies in early 2020.