Asian markets were drifting lower in early Friday trading, with China and Hong Kong leading the way with declines around 1%. Korea and Taiwan were down about half that level, following the pullback in the fellow tech-heavy Nasdaq in the U.S. overnight.
Chinese stocks added to Thursday’s weakness, extending recent underperformance in the region. The Shanghai Composite
SHCOMP, -1.25%
was off 0.9% in early trading, dragged down by real estate, financials and utilities. Small caps were down similarly despite news that the U.S. has reached a deal with China to allow ZTE to get back to business.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng
HSI, -1.23%
was off 1.1% after logging a sixth-straight day of gains Thursday. Tech giant Tencent
0700, -2.70%
fell more than 2%.
The yen pulled back some following overnight gains as risk aversion cooled again. The dollar
USDJPY, -0.05%
reached session highs of ¥109.85 versus ¥109.75 at Tokyo’s stock-market open. Still, the Nikkei
NIK, -0.29%
was trading down slightly.
South Korean stocks
SEU, -0.60%
dropped, with Samsung Electronics
005930, -1.48%
down more than 1%. Singapore
STI, -0.56%
, Taiwan
Y9999, -0.80%
and Australia
XJO, -0.05%
also fell.
Source : MTV
