Selling continued Friday morning in Asia-Pacific stocks, with Japanese equities hit by an overnight jump in the yen. The Nikkei set an early course for a sixth-straight drop, with the market also pressured by President Donald Trump’s comments about turning an eye toward Japan next on trade.
Concern and uncertainty with earnings sent the Nikkei
NIK, -1.08%
down almost 1%, along with the double-whammy of this week’s typhoon and earthquake. “Once we have such incidents, short-term uncertainty is inevitable,” said Chisato Haganuma, chief equity strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities. The dollar
USDJPY, -0.17%
was down to ¥110.40, a full yen below day-earlier levels. Big caps like Toyota
7203, -1.26%
and Sony
6758, -1.10%
fell more than 1%. If current trading persists, the Nikkei will have its first six-day losing streak since late January.
Meanwhile, Chinese stocks bucked the regional trend, opening higher. The Shanghai Composite
SHCOMP, -0.13%
was up 0.9% after dropping in seven of the past eight days to move within 1% of last month’s multiyear closing low on Thursday, and the Shenzhen Composite
399106, -0.27%
surged 1.4%. Big-cap energy names led the way with a 1.5% sector gain, but unless today’s rebound gets much bigger, it’s going to be another down week for Chinese stocks.
Hong Kong stocks have also stabilized, with the Hang Seng
HSI, -0.86%
up 0.5% following yesterday’s 13-month closing low. Tencent
0700, -1.02%
was in positive territory following its 13-month low Thursday, while fellow Thursday laggard AIA
1299, -1.71%
also perked up.
Meanwhile, benchmarks in Australia
XJO, -0.65%
and South Korea
SEU, -0.60%
were down about 0.8%. They’ve been hit by fresh overnight drops in oil prices and U.S. tech stocks, with the Kospi dragged down by Samsung c
005930, -2.82%
and SK Hynix
000660, -4.70%
. In Australia, Oil Search
OSH, -2.21%
and Woodside Petroleum
WPL, -1.74%
were each down around 2%. New Zealand’s NZX 50
NZ50GR, -0.19%
was relatively flat, with some large caps providing support.
Malaysian stocks
FBMKLCI, -0.09%
added to yesterday’s gains, continuing to outpace most other markets in Asia. Petronas Chemicals
PCHEM, +0.32%
and Petronas Gas
PETGAS, -0.22%
were each up, though off session highs. Singapore stocks
STI, -0.75%
fell, a day after the Strait Times Index set a 16-month closing low, with banking heavyweight DBS
D05, -1.10%
down 1%. Taiwan’s Taiex
Y9999, -0.77%
slipped 0.2%
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Source : MTV
