Asia-Pacific markets traded in a mixed fashion on Friday, following Wall Street’s renewed decline led by artificial intelligence stocks, as investors assessed fresh data from Japan and awaited China’s October trade figures.
By 11:45 am AEDT (12:45 am GMT), Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged down 0.1%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 tumbled 1.4%, weighed by sharp losses in major technology names.
Shares of Japan’s SoftBank Group extended their slide, down 7% as investors continued to trim exposure to AI-linked firms.
South Korea’s Kospi 200 managed modest gains, up 0.2%.
In Japan, household spending rose 1.8% in September, marking a slowdown from August’s 2.3% increase and coming in below market expectations of 2.5%, according to data from the Statistics Bureau.
Attention now turns to China’s October trade data, due later in the day. Markets are expecting the figures to show a sharp slowdown in external demand, with exports forecast to rise just 3% year-on-year, compared to September’s strong 8.3% increase. Imports are also expected to expand by 3.2%, reversing last month’s 7.4% growth.
The downbeat tone in Asia followed a broad decline on Wall Street overnight, as major benchmarks succumbed to renewed selling in high-valuation technology shares.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.8%, the S&P 500 slipped 1.1%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite sank 1.9%.
In commodities, Brent crude dropped 0.2% to US$63.38 per barrel, a two-week low, while spot gold edged 0.1% lower to US$3,977.14 per ounce.
Elsewhere in Asia on Thursday, China’s Shanghai Composite rose 1% to 4,007.8, while the CSI 300 climbed 1.4% to 4,693.4.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 2.1% to 26,485.9. In India, the BSE Sensex fell 0.2% to a two-week low of 83,311.0.
European markets also ended lower overnight, tracking global risk aversion. The FTSE 100 fell 0.4% to 9,735.8, Germany’s DAX slid 1.3% to 23,734.0, and France’s CAC 40 declined 1.4% to 7,964.8.
