Investors are on edge in anticipation of a significant announcement from indebted Chinese property developer Evergrande.

Several Hong Kong-listed entities of the Evergrande Group have had their shares suspended from trading, with few other details released to the market.

It follows Evergrande missing a second offshore bond payment late last week, failing to pay some of the interest owed on its roughly $400 billion in debt.

IG market analyst Kyle Rodda said "a lot of ambiguity" remained around Monday's trading halt, but he had already seen clients reducing their exposure to the Hong Kong market as a result.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell following the news, to be down 2 per cent by 4:20pm AEDT, while Tokyo's Nikkei shed 1 per cent.

Stock markets in mainland China and South Korea were closed for holidays.

"Nobody's jumping at shadows just yet … but the big fear is that it will be a reasonably grave announcement about the company's health," Mr Rodda told the ABC.

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Reports from China's Cailian Press suggested another Hong Kong-listed property developer, Hopson Development, could take a majority stake in Evergrande Property Services.

Hopson shares were also halted from trading, pending an announcement in relation to a "major transaction", which would see it acquire shares in a Hong Kong-listed company.

Evergrande's stock market filing also referenced a major transaction.

As a result of the Evergrande trading suspension, Mr Rodda said some of the steam had come out of a positive start on Asian markets.

"The biggest problem is not a default by Evergrande but the environment that has led to its downfall. Authorities are regulating housing loans and lending to property firms. Markets are looking for a next Evergrande already," Okasan Securities senior economist Kazutaka Kubo told Reuters.

"There is rising risk Evergrande's woes will spread to the entire Chinese property sector."

ASX rises on banks, travel stocks

Meanwhile, the Australian share market remained strongly higher despite the Evergrande jitters.

The ASX 200 closed up by 1.3 per cent, at 7,278.5 points, recouping some of last week's steep losses.

The Australian dollar was also higher, buying around 72.7 US cents by 4:20pm AEDT.

All sectors of the market gained ground during the session, with the exception of health care.

Travel stocks made strong gains, with Flight Centre (+9.6pc) the top performer on the benchmark index, as COVID-19 reopenings in several states drew nearer and the federal government committed to reopening international borders in November.

Webjet (+2.9pc), Helloworld (+14.8pc) and Corporate Travel Management (+3.3pc) also rose.

Qantas shares gained 1.8 per cent. After the close of trade, the airline said it had extended its partnership with Emirates for another five years.

Shares in furniture retailer Nick Scali climbed 10.4 per cent after announcing it would buy Plush-Think Sofas for $103 million. 

Nick Scali said the acquisition would increase its number of showrooms across Australia and New Zealand to 108.

The company will fund the Plush purchase through a combination of existing cash and new debt, after it doubled its profit last financial year as people updated their decor during the pandemic.

Bank stocks helped lift the broader market, with the Commonwealth Bank up 5.1 per cent after completing a $6 billion share buy-back.

CBA bought back around 3.8 per cent of its shares on issue.

Two very different central bank meetings

Both the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand will meet this week, but far more action is expected across the ditch.

After last month postponing a widely-forecast rate hike due to a new COVID outbreak, markets consider a rate rise by the RBNZ as a near-certainty.

"As of Friday, the market was pricing an almost 90 per cent chance of a 25 basis point hike," NAB senior interest rate strategist Nick Smyth said.

"News yesterday that most of Waikato would enter a snap five-day lockdown, after the discovery of two new cases in the region, is unlikely to shake this consensus since the RBNZ has been clear that lockdowns won't necessarily prevent rate hikes and an October hike has been strongly signalled. "

While a rate rise in Australia is tipped to be a few years away yet, with the RBA sticking to its 2024 timeline, there will be interest in any commentary from the central bank on the housing market on Tuesday and on Friday.

"Given the current focus on macro-prudential policy, the Financial Stability Review (FSR) on 8 October will be particularly interesting," ANZ economists said.

"The RBA statement on Tuesday will likely flag some of the key conclusions of the FSR. Otherwise, we think the October statement will be a bit of a non-event."

Indications regulators will introduce measures to curb home lending growth, such as debt-to-income ratios, have increased, with the Council of Financial Regulators discussing potential policy responses at its latest meeting. 

In a recent speech, RBA assistant governor Michele Bullock said the RBA expects annual household credit growth to increase to 11 per cent in coming months.