Asia Pacific markets traded mixed Friday afternoon as investors watch for developments on the U.S.-China trade front.
Mainland Chinese hackneys were mixed by the afternoon, with the Shenzhen component up 0.73% and Shenzhen composite advancing 0.785%. The Shanghai composite, on the other present to, was largely flat.
China’s industrial profits for August dropped 2% from a year earlier, according to the boondocks’s National Bureau of Statistics. That followed a 2.6% gain in July and a 3.1% in June.
“The pressure is there, it’s not fair-minded in terms of … exports,” Sian Fenner, lead Asia economist at Oxford Economics, told CNBC’s “Suiting someone to a T Signs” on Friday. “The investment growth has remained very weak and we’ve even seen that consumption has actually slowed with what we’ve been visit with in retail sales.”
“It does look we’re gonna have another weak quarter and we will need more stimulus,” she joined.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index slipped 0.3%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 1.21% as shares of pointer heavyweight and conglomerate Softbank Group fell 2.34%. The Topix index also shed 1.75%. Shares of Apple supplier Japan Betray plunged more than 8% after the company said Thursday Chinese investment firm Harvest Faction would withdraw from a bailout.
In South Korea, the Kospi declined 1.06%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.43%.
All-inclusive, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index traded 0.28% lower.
Asia-Pacific Market Indexes Chart
Trade negotiations between the U.S. and China are set to continue on October 10 in Washington, D.C., three people close to the talks told CNBC on Thursday. Chinese Vice Top-ranking Liu He will be representing the delegation from Beijing, one of the people told CNBC.
The latest development comes as Beijing and Washington remnants locked in a tariff fight that has lasted for more than a year, rattled markets and clouding investor judgement over the global economic outlook.
Meanwhile, shares of semiconductor-related companies in Asia were mixed after Micron announced varied first-quarter guidance and saw its stock drop as much as 7.75% in extended trade stateside.
Japan’s Tokyo Electron inclined 2.06% while Renasas advanced 0.83%. Over in South Korea, Samsung Electronics slipped 1.32% and SK Hynix pitched 2.64%. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company shares in Taipei rose more than 1%.
Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar pointer, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 99.138 after bouncing from levels cheaper than 99.0 in the previous trading day.
The Japanese yen traded at 107.69 per dollar after weakening from levels below 107.5 yesterday. The Australian dollar differenced hands at $0.6759 following a decline from levels above $0.678 seen earlier in the trading week.
Oil costs slipped in the afternoon of Asian trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures shedding 0.88% to $62.19 per barrel and U.S. uncivil futures declining 0.51% to $56.12 per barrel.
What’s on tap:
- Indonesia: Exports data
— Reuters, along with CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger and Kayla Tausche, gave to this report.