Asian Markets Track Wall Street Sell-off

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are mostly lower on Friday, following the sell-off on Wall Street overnight, as traders remain concerned about the economic impact of the expanding conflict in the Middle East, with crude oil prices spiking amid ongoing supply disruption. Losses are capped somewhat after U.S. President Donald Trump extended his pause on threats to strike Iran's energy infrastructure by another 10 days. Asian markets ended mostly lower on Thursday.

The U.S.-Iran standoff over the 15-point peace proposal deepens the Middle East conflict. Iran dismissed the U.S. plan to pause the war, insisting that it will only occur on Tehran's own terms and timeline.

The U.A.E., Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan issued a joint statement condemning Iran's "criminal" attacks on their energy infrastructure. The Gulf countries reaffirmed their right to self-defense as well as their right to "take all necessary measures to safeguard our sovereignty, security, and stability."

Reports stated that the Pentagon is preparing to deliver one "final blow" to Iran, including sending up to 10,000 additional ground troops.

The Australian stock market is trading notably lower on Friday, extending the slight losses in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 8,500 level, with weakness in gold miner stocks and a mixed performance across most other sectors.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 31.90 points or 0.37 percent to 8,493.80, after hitting a low of 8,455.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 40.00 points or 0.46 percent to 8,686.50. Australian stocks closed slightly lower on Thursday.

Among major miners, Fortescue and Rio Tinto are edging up 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Mineral Resources is losing more than 1 percent and BHP Group is edging down 0.5 percent.

Oil stocks are mixed. Origin Energy and Santos are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Woodside Energy and Beach energy is edging down 0.2 percent each.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay-owner Block is edging up 0.5 percent and Xero is adding more than 1 percent, while Zip is slipping almost 5 percent and Appen are sliding almost 6 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank is losing almost 1 percent and ANZ Banking is edging down 0.2 percent, while Commonwealth Bank is gaining almost 1 percent and Westpac is adding more than 1 percent. Gold miners are weak. Northern Star Resources is declining almost 2 percent and Genesis Minerals is slipping more than 3 percent, while Resolute Mining and Evolution Mining are losing more than 1 percent each. Newmont is gaining almost 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Syrah Resources are tumbling more than 10 percent after the graphite producer raised capital for the fourth time in four years. It successfully completed the institutional component and will now push ahead with retail component of the equity raising. In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.689 on Friday. The Japanese market is trading sharply lower on Friday, extending the losses in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling below the 53,150 level, with weakness in exporters, technology and financial stocks. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 53,145.33, down 458.32 points or 0.86 percent, after hitting a low of 52,516.92 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly lower on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is losing almost 1 percent, while Honda is edging up 0.3 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is declining more than 5 percent, while Screen Holdings and Tokyo Electron are losing more than 4 percent each.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are declining almost 1 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is losing more than 1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Sony is losing almost 1 percent, Canon is edging down 0.1 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is declining almost 4 percent and Panasonic is slipping more than 1 percent.

Among other major losers, Daikin Industries, Sumitomo Electric Industries and Furukawa Electric are tumbling more than 7 percent each, while Ibiden is sliding more than 6 percent. Resonac Holdings and Fujikura are declining more than 5 percent each, while Japan Steel Works, Ebara and SMC are slipping almost 5 percent each. Mitsui Kinzoku, Yaskawa Electric and Nippon Electric Glass are losing more than 4 percent each.

Conversely, Shiseido is advancing more than 4 percent and Mercari is adding more than 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 159 yen-range on Friday.

Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea and Taiwan are down 2.9 and 1.5 percent, respectively. New Zealand, Malaysia and Indonesia are lower by between 0.1 and 0.7 percent each. China and Singapore are up 0.2 and 0.4 percent, respectively. Hong Kong is relatively flat.

On Wall Street, stocks saw even further downside over the course of the trading day on Thursday after coming under pressure early in the session, ending the day sharply lower. With the steep losses, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 dropped to their lowest closing levels since early last September.

The major averages ended the day just off their lows of the session. The Nasdaq plunged 521.74 points or 2.4 percent to 21,408.08, the S&P 500 tumbled 114.74 points or 1.7 percent to 6,477.16 and the Dow slumped 469.38 points or 1 percent to 45,960.11.

The major European markets also showed significant moves downside on the day. While the German DAX Index dove by 1.5 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index tumbled by 1.3 percent and the French CAC 40 Index slid by 1 percent.

Crude oil prices skyrocketed Thursday as the U.S.-Iran standoff over the 15-point peace proposal deepens the Middle East conflict. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was up $4.51 or 4.99 percent at $94.83 per barrel.