CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Friday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, hurt by continued weakness in technology stocks which mirror their peers on the tech-heavy Nasdaq amid concerns about valuations and the impact of artificial intelligence. Uncertainty about geopolitical and trade conflicts is also weighing on market sentiment. Asian markets ended mostly lower on Thursday.
The Australian stock market is trading sharply lower on Friday, extending the losses in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling well below the 8,750 level, with weakness across all segments led by technology and mining stocks.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 159.40 points or 1.79 percent to 8,729.80, after hitting a low of 8,714.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 179.10 points or 1.96 percent to 8,975.80. Australian stocks closed notably lower on Thursday.
Among major miners, Rio Tinto is edging down 0.4 percent, BHP Group is declining almost 3 percent, Fortescue is losing almost 1 percent and Mineral Resources is tumbling more than 4 percent.
Oil stocks are weak. Santos is slipping more than 1 percent, Woodside Energy is down almost 2 percent, Origin Energy is losing almost 1 percent and Beach energy is declining almost 4 percent.
Among tech stocks, Afterpay-owner Block is declining almost 7 percent, WiseTech Global is slipping almost 5 percent, Zip is sliding almost 6 percent, Xero is losing more than 2 percent and Appen is tumbling almost 9 percent.
Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are losing more than 1 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are edging down 0.1 percent each.
Gold miners are weak. Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources are losing more than 2 percent each, while Newmont and Genesis Minerals are tumbling more than 6 percent each. Resolute Mining is down almost 2 percent.
In other news, shares in REA Group are tumbling more than 10 percent after its first-half financial results missed analysts' expectations.
Shares in Web Travel Group are plummeting almost 29 percent after the hotel room aggregator announced that the Special Delegation of the Balearic Islands of the Spanish Tax Agency has commenced an audit of its Spanish subsidiary.
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.694 on Friday.
The Japanese market is notably higher on Friday after opening in the red, reversing some of the losses in the previous two sessions, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling below the 53,600 level, with a mixed performance across most sectors.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 54,073.52, up 255.48 points or 0.47 percent, after hitting a low of 52,950.15 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Thursday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 2 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is down almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is edging down 0.1 percent, while Honda is gaining more than 1 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 1 percent, Screen Holdings is adding more than 1 percent and Tokyo Electron is advancing almost 3 percent.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is adding almost 2 percent, Mizuho Financial is gaining more than 2 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging up 0.5 percent.
Among the major exporters, Sony is surging more than 5 percent, Canon is edging down 0.1 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is gaining almost 2 percent and Panasonic is advancing more than 3 percent.
Among other major gainers, Ajinomoto is soaring more than 8 percent, Mitsubishi Motors is jumping almost 8 percent, Shimizu is surging more than 7 percent, Ricoh is advancing almost 7 percent, Omron is gaining more than 5 percent and Kanadevia is adding almost 4 percent, while NTN, BANDAI NAMCO and Taisei are up more than 3 percent each. Suzuki Motor, Hitachi, Renesas Electronics, Obayashi and IHI are gaining almost 3 percent each.
Conversely, Nikon is tumbling more than 9 percent, Kikkoman is sliding almost 8 percent, Minebea Mitsumi is slipping more than 7 percent and Sumitomo Metal Mining is declining more than 6 percent, while Sumitomo Pharma and BayCurrent are losing more than 5 percent each. Konica Minolta and FUJIFILM are down almost 5 percent each, while Nintendo and Chugai Pharmaceutical are losing more than 4 percent each. Dowa Holdings, CyberAgent and Shiseido are down almost 4 percent each. M3 is declining more than 3 percent.
In economic news, the average of household spending in Japan was down 2.9 percent on month in December, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday - coming in at 351,522 yen. That missed forecasts for a fall of 1.3 percent following the 6.2 percent jump in November.
On an annual basis, household spending slipped 2.6 percent - again shy of expectations for a dip of 0.5 percent following the 2.9 percent increase in the previous month. The average of monthly income per household stood at 1,207,545 yen, roughly unchanged from the previous year.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 156 yen-range on Friday.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong and Indonesia are down 1.5 percent each, while Malaysia and Taiwan are down 0.1 percent each. Singapore and South Korea are down 0.6 and 1.3 percent, respectively. China is bucking the trend and is up 0.2 percent. New Zealand is closed for Waitangi Day.
On Wall Street, major U.S. stock indexes all moved sharply lower during trading on Thursday following the mixed performance seen in the previous session. The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the way lower, tumbling to its lowest closing level in over two months.
The major averages ended the day off their worst levels of the session but still firmly negative. The Nasdaq plunged 363.99 points or 1.6 percent to 22,540.59, the S&P 500 tumbled 84.32 points or 1.2 percent to 6,798.40 and the Dow slumped 592.58 points or 1.2 percent to 48,908.72.
The major European markets all also moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.9 percent, the German DAX Index declined by 0.5 percent and the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.3 percent.
Crude oil prices plunged on Thursday after weak U.S. jobs data increased demand concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was down $1.87 or 2.87 percent at $63.27 per barrel.
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