CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stock markets are mostly lower on Friday following the mixed cues overnight from Wall Street. Investors are cautious as they looked ahead to U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium later today for additional clues about the outlook for interest rates.
Worries about rising Japan-South Korea tensions also weighed on the markets after Seoul said it has decided to end an intelligence-sharing agreement with Tokyo.
The Australian market opened lower following the mixed cues from Wall Street, but has recovered and is modestly higher.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is adding 14.30 points or 0.22 percent to 6,516.10, after touching a low of 6,495.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 11.80 points or 0.18 percent to 6,604.80. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Thursday.
Among the major miners, Rio Tinto is declining 0.4 percent and BHP Group is edging down 0.1 percent, while Fortescue Metals is adding 0.5 percent.
The big four banks are also mostly lower. ANZ Banking, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are down in a range of 0.1 percent to 0.3 percent, while Westpac is rising 0.3 percent.
Commonwealth Bank has renegotiated the sale of its CommInsure life insurance business to Hong Kong-based AIA for A$2.375 billion, about $150 million less than the original price.
Among oil stocks, Woodside Petroleum is declining 0.7 percent and Oil Search is down 0.2 percent, while Santos is advancing more than 1 percent after crude oil prices declined overnight.
Gold miners are weak after gold prices closed lower overnight. Evolution Mining is lower by 0.2 percent and Newcrest Mining is losing 0.5 percent.
Costa Group Holdings reported a 1 percent increase in statutory profit for the first half of the year on higher revenues and now projects earnings at the lower end of its revised outlook range. The vegetables and fruit producer's shares are losing more than 18 percent.
Mayne Pharma reported a loss for the full year that widened from last year on a one-time charge and lower revenues and declared no final dividend. The pharmaceutical company's shares are declining more than 1 percent.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar is lower against the U.S. dollar on Friday. The local currency was quoted at $0.6757, down from 0.6768 on Thursday.
The Japanese market is modestly higher, recovering after a weak start following the mixed cues from Wall Street. Nevertheless, investors are cautious amid worries about rising Japan-South Korea tensions.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is adding 60.96 points or 0.30 percent to 20,688.97, after touching a low of 20,579.98 in early trades. Japanese shares closed roughly flat on Thursday.
In the auto sector, Honda Motor is adding 0.2 percent and Toyota Motor is rising 0.3 percent. In the tech space, Advantest is declining more than 2 percent and Tokyo Electron is lower by 1 percent.
The major exporters are mostly higher on a slightly weaker yen. Sony is advancing almost 2 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is rising 2 percent and Panasonic is higher by almost 1 percent, while Canon is edging down 0.1 percent.
Market heavyweight SoftBank is rising 0.3 percent and Fast Retailing is higher by 0.6 percent.
Oil stocks are mixed after crude oil prices declined overnight. Japan Petroleum is adding 0.2 percent, while Inpex is losing 0.4 percent.
Among the other major gainers, FamilyMart UNY is gaining almost 5 percent, while JFE Holdings and Tokuyama Corp. are rising 3 percent each.
On the flip side, Taiyo Yuden is losing more than 3 percent and Hitachi Zosen is declining 2 percent.
On the economic front, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said that overall nationwide inflation in Japan was up 0.5 percent on year in July. That was shy of forecasts for an annual increase of 0.6 percent and down from 0.7 percent in June.
Core consumer prices, which exclude volatile food prices, gained an annual 0.6 percent - unchanged from the previous month and in line with expectations.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the mid 106 yen-range on Friday. Elsewhere in Asia, Shanghai and Hong Kong are also higher, while South Korea, Singapore, New Zealand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan are all lower.
On Wall Street, stocks closed mixed on Thursday in choppy trading amid another inversion of the yield curve after the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting failed to provide much clarity about the outlook for interest rates. Traders also seemed reluctant to make significant moves as they wait for Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium on Friday for additional clues about the outlook for rates.
The Dow ended the day up 49.51 points or 0.2 percent at 26,252.24, while the S&P 500 edged down 1.48 points or 0.1 percent to 2,922.95 and the Nasdaq fell 28.82 points or 0.4 percent to 7,991.39.
The major European markets all moved to the downside on Thursday. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index tumbled by 1.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 0.9 percent and the German DAX Index fell by 0.5 percent.
Crude oil prices edged lower on Thursday on concerns about the outlook for near-term energy demand due to a slowing global economy. WTI crude oil futures for October ended down $0.33 or 0.6 percent at $55.35 a barrel.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2019 AFX News
