CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stock markets are mostly lower on Friday following the mixed cues overnight from Wall Street and as investors remained cautious due to the stalled U.S. stimulus talks. Democrats and White House officials remain at an impasse over a coronavirus relief bill.
The ongoing stalemate has raised concerns the economic recovery implied by recent data could stall. Investors also looked ahead to the release of a raft of economic data from China today, including industrial production, retail sales, and fixed asset investment.
The Australian market is rising after two straight days of losses. In addition, better than expected earnings results from National Australia Bank lifted sentiment. Banks are among the notable gainers.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is advancing 33.70 points or 0.55 percent to 6,124.70 and the broader All Ordinaries Index is adding 34.50 points or 0.55 percent to 6,258.40. Australian stocks closed lower on Thursday.
Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank is rising more than 1 percent, while Westpac, ANZ Banking and Commonwealth Bank are all higher by almost 1 percent each.
National Australia Bank reported a 7 percent decrease in cash profit for the third quarter from last year, while net profit was a better than expected A$1.5 billion despite the coronavirus pandemic.
Among the major miners, Fortescue Metals is higher by 0.6 percent, Rio Tinto is rising 0.5 percent and BHP Group is adding 0.3 percent.
Gold miners are mixed even as gold prices rose overnight. Evolution Mining is gaining more than 4 percent, while Newcrest Mining is declining almost 1 percent.
Oil stocks are weak after crude oil prices declined overnight. Oil Search is losing more than 2 percent, Santos is lower by more than 1 percent and Woodside Petroleum is down 0.3 percent.
The Japanese market is edging lower after a positive start following the mixed cues from Wall Street and as investors remained cautious due to the stalled U.S. stimulus talks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 12.85 points or 0.06 percent to 23,236.76, after touching a high of 23,388.79 earlier. The Japanese market hit a six-month on Thursday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 2 percent and Fast Retailing is edging down 0.1 percent.
In the tech space, Tokyo Electron is declining almost 1 percent and Advantest is down 0.2 percent. In the financial sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are losing more than 1 percent each.
Among automakers, Toyota is lower by more than 1 percent and Honda Motor is losing almost 1 percent.
Meanwhile, the major exporters are mixed despite a weaker yen. Sony is rising almost 2 percent and Canon is advancing almost 1 percent, while Panasonic is declining almost 1 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is edging down 0.1 percent.
In the oil sector, Japan Petroleum is declining more than 2 percent and Inpex is down almost 2 percent after crude oil prices dropped overnight.
Among the other major gainers, Dentsu Group is gaining almost 5 percent, while Fujifilm Holdings and Cyberagent are rising almost 3 percent each.
Conversely, IHI Corp. is losing more than 3 percent and Pacific Metals is lower by almost 3 percent. Mitsui Fudosan and Tokyo Tatemono are declining more than 2 percent each.
In economic news, Japan will provide June figures for its tertiary industry index today.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 106 yen-range on Friday.
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea, Shanghai, New Zealand and Malaysia are lower, while Indonesia and Hong Kong are little changed with a negative bias. Singapore and Taiwan are edging higher.
On Wall Street, stocks closed mixed on Thursday in a lackluster session as traders expressed some uncertainty about the outlook for the markets. A steep drop by Cisco Systems weighed on the Dow after the networking giant reported better than expected fiscal fourth quarter results, but provided disappointing guidance. Traders also kept an eye on developments in Washington, where Democrats and White House officials remain at an impasse over a coronavirus relief bill.
The Dow dipped 80.12 points or 0.3 percent to 27,896.72 and the S&P 500 edged down 6.92 points or 0.2 percent to 3,373.43. Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq pulled back off its best levels, but still closed up 30.27 points or 0.3 percent at 11,042.50.
The major European markets all moved to the downside on Thursday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slumped by 1.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index fell by 0.6 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.
Crude oil prices continued their modest decline through Thursday after the International Energy Agency cut its forecast for global oil demand for the whole of 2020 to 91.9 million barrels per day, saying the Covid-19 pandemic has cast a long shadow over oil demand. WTI crude oil for September fell $0.28 or 0.66 percent to $42.27 a barrel.
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