Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed on Friday, with strong gains in technology stocks and slightly lower oil prices supporting risk sentiment following a positive session on Wall Street.
By 12:15 pm AEST (2:15 am GMT), Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.7%, while Japan's Nikkei 225 advanced 0.9% and South Korea's KOSPI 200 added 1.5%.
Asian technology stocks tracked broad gains among United States technology companies, while softer oil prices and unchanged U.S. producer prices supported risk appetite.
In Japan, SoftBank Group climbed 3.8%, while memory chipmaker Kioxia advanced 3.2%.
In South Korea, SK Hynix jumped 7.3%, while Samsung Electronics gained 0.3%.
Among data releases, South Korea's import prices fell for a second consecutive month in July as the won strengthened against the U.S. dollar and global oil prices declined.
The import price index stood at 160.09 last month, down 1% from June, although it was 18.7% higher than a year earlier.
Export prices, meanwhile, increased at their fastest pace in more than 28 years. The export price index rose 1% from the previous month to 190.65 and surged 49.1% year-on-year.
In Australia, the number of new home loans fell 5.4% to 134,225 in the June quarter, according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Dr Mish Tan, ABS head of finance statistics, said: "Lending fell across all borrower types this quarter and returned to similar levels to this time last year.
“Lending conditions continued to change in the June quarter, with the Reserve Bank of Australia increasing the cash rate for the third time in 2026. Changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax were also announced in the federal budget in May, to commence in July 2027.”
The value of total new home loans fell 5.2%, or $5.4 billion, during the quarter, following a 3.4% decline in the previous quarter.
“While the value of home loans increased 6.8% since June quarter 2025, this was lower than the 19.1% annual growth recorded in the March quarter,” Dr Tan added.
In the U.S. on Thursday, major benchmarks finished higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.1%, the S&P 500 gaining 0.7% and the Nasdaq advancing 0.8%.
In commodities, ICE Brent crude finished 2.2% lower at US$87.07 a barrel, while spot gold fell 1.3% to US$4,349.95 an ounce, retreating from multi-month highs.
In China on Thursday, the SSE Composite Index declined 0.5% to 3,927.0, while the CSI 300 fell 0.6% to 4,664.0.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 0.2% to 25,396.5, while India's BSE Sensex gained 0.2% to 78,080.0.
European markets finished lower across the board on Thursday. The UK's FTSE 100 slipped 0.6% to 10,772.7, Germany's DAX fell 0.1% to 26,299.7 and France's CAC 40 declined 0.3% to 8,650.6.
