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, -1.15% 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, -0.18% was down to ¥110.40, a full yen below day-earlier levels. Big caps like Toyota 7203, -1.39% and Sony 6758, -1.05% 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, -0.74% and South Korea SEU, -0.59% 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, -3.04% and SK Hynix 000660, -4.44% . In Australia, Oil Search OSH, -2.56% and Woodside Petroleum WPL, -1.76% were each down around 2%. New Zealand’s NZX 50 NZ50GR, -0.15% 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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