Asian Markets Trade Mostly Lower

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Friday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, as U.S. President Donald Trump announced a new round of tariffs ranging from 25 to 100 percent on upholstered furniture, kitchen cabinets, heavy trucks and branded drugs starting October 1. Asian markets ended mixed on Thursday.

Renewed uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates also weighed on the markets following the release of some largely upbeat U.S. economic data.

Traders now await the report on US personal income and spending in August later in the day, which includes the US Fed's preferred readings on consumer price inflation.

The Australian stock market is trading slightly higher on Friday, extending the gains in the previous session, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying above the 8,750 level, with gains in iron miners and financial stocks partially offset by weakness in gold miner and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 7.30 points or 0.08 percent to 8,780.30, after hitting a low of 8,746.30 and a high of 8,781.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 3.60 points or 0.04 percent to 9,067.00. Australian stocks closed slightly higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is gaining almost 2 percent, while Mineral Resources and Rio Tinto are adding more than 1 percent each. Fortescue is edging down 0.1 percent.

Oil stocks are mixed. Origin Energy is losing almost 2 percent and Woodside Energy is edging down 0.4 percent, while Santos and Beach energy are edging up 0.1 to 0.2 percent each. Among tech stocks, Afterpay-owner Block is slipping 3.5 percent, Zip is down almost 1 percent and Appen is declining almost 3 percent, while Xero and WiseTech Global are losing more than 1 percent each.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and ANZ Banking are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each, while National Australia Bank is gaining almost 1 percent.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Resolute Mining is declining more than 1 percent, Evolution Mining is losing almost 2 percent and Northern Star Resources is down almost 1 percent. Gold Road Resources and Newmont are flat.

In other news, shares in Vulcan Energy Resources are jumping more than 15 percent after it signed a major $179 million contract with Turboden and ROM Technik to construct a geothermal power plant near Landau, Germany, with capacity to support 500,000 electric vehicles annually, a crucial step in its Phase One Lionheart Project.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.654 on Friday.

Snapping a three-session winning streak, the Japanese market is modestly lower on Friday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling below the 45,650 level, with weakness in technology stocks partially offset by gains in exporters and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 45,629.79, down 125.14 points or 0.27 percent, after hitting a low of 45,423.08 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly higher on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 3 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.5 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is edging up 0.5 percent and Honda is also edging up 0.3 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing more than 1 percent, Tokyo Electron is declining more than 3 percent and Screen Holdings is slipping more than 2 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is edging up 0.4 percent.

Among the major exporters, Sony and Canon are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Panasonic and Mitsubishi Electric are edging up 0.3 to 0.5 percent each.

Among other major losers, Lasertec is tumbling almost 6 percent, while Sumco and Disco are declining more than 5 percent each. Resonac Holdings, Sumitomo Pharma is losing more than 4 percent, Otsuka Holdings is slipping almost 4 percent and Renesas Electronics is down more than 3 percent, while Sumitomo Metal Mining and Mitsui Mining & Smelting are sliding almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, FUJIFILM is gaining more than 4 percent, Tokyo Electric Power is adding almost 4 percent and Mitsubishi Estate is advancing more than 3 percent, while Ajinomoto, Konami Group and BayCurrent are up almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, overall inflation in the Tokyo region of Japan was up 2.5 percent on year in September, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday. That was shy of expectations for an annual increase of 2.6 percent, which would have been unchanged from the August reading.

Core CPI, which excludes the volatile cost of food, also was up 2.5 percent on year. That missed forecasts for an increase of 2.6 percent but was unchanged from the previous month's reading. The preliminary read on Japan's overall inflation suggested a 1.0 percent increase on year.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 149 yen-range on Friday.

Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea and Taiwan are down 2.2 and 1.9 percent, respectively. New Zealand, China and Hong Kong are lower by between 0.3 and 0.9 percent each. Singapore is up 1.1 percent, while Malaysia and Indonesia are up 0.1 and 0.3 percent, respectively.

On Wall Street, stocks saw further downside during trading on Thursday following the pullback seen over the two previous sessions. The major averages continued to give back ground after ending Monday's trading at new record closing highs.

The major averages ended the day well off their lows of the session but still firmly negative. The Nasdaq slid 113.16 points or 0.5 percent to 22,384.70, the S&P 500 declined 33.25 points or 0.5 percent to 6,604.72 and the Dow fell 173.96 points or 0.4 percent to 45,947.32.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index slid by 0.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both fell by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices inched higher on Thursday amid the possibility of Russian oil exports being hit by sanctions by the U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was up $0.08 or 0.12 percent at $65.07 per barrel.