Asian Markets Trade Mostly Lower

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Friday, despite the negative cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders react to a slew of economic data from China, the world's second-largest economy. They also remain cautious and took a step back to assess the US Fed's near-term interest rate trajectory. Asian markets ended mostly higher on Thursday.

The Australian stock market is slightly higher on Friday after opening in the green and briefly slipping in to the red, extending the slight gains in the previous session, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying above the 8,300 level, with gains across most sectors led by mining and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 1.70 points or 0.02 percent to 8,328.70, after touching a high of 8,346.80 and low of 8,314.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 5.90 points or 0.07 percent to 8,565.10. Australian stocks closed slightly higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is adding almost 1 percent, Mineral Resources is advancing more than 2 percent and Fortescue Metals is gaining almost 2 percent. Rio Tinto is flat.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos and Origin Energy are edging up 0.5 percent each, while Beach energy is adding almost 1 percent. Woodside Energy is edging down 0.1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay-owner Block and Xero are edging up 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while Appen is gaining almost 5 percent. Zip is losing more than 1 percent and WiseTech Global is down almost 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is slipping almost 1 percent, while Westpac, ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are losing more than 1 percent each. Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining is gaining more than 1 percent and Gold Road Resources is adding almost 1 percent, while Newmont and Resolute Mining are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each. Northern Star Resources is edging down 0.2 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.621 on Friday.

Reversing the gains in the previous session, the Japanese market is sharply lower on Friday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling to stay a tad above the 38,100 level, with weakness across most sectors led by index heavyweights and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 38,193.05, down 379.55 points or 0.98 percent, after hitting a low of 38,055.68 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly higher on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is declining almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is losing more than 1 percent and Honda is also down more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing more than 2 percent and Tokyo Electron is down almost 1 percent, while Screen Holdings is adding almost 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is losing almost 4 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are down almost 3 percent each.

Among the major exporters, Panasonic is edging down 0.4 percent, Canon is losing 1.5 percent, Sony is down more than 1 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is declining more than 2 percent.

Among other major losers, Nintendo plunging almost 7 percent, Tokyo Tatemono is sliding almost 6 percent, DeNA is slipping almost 5 percent and T&D Holdings is losing almost 4 percent, while Dai-ichi Life and TDK Holdings are declining more than 3 percent each. Konami Group, Takashimaya, Tokio Marine and BANDAI NAMCO are down almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Hino Motors is surging almost 8 percent, OKUMA is gaining more than 5 percent, Shiseido is adding more than 3 percent and Omron is advancing almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 155 yen-range on Friday.

Elsewhere in Asia, China, South Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia are lower by between 0.1 and 0.3 percent, while New Zealand and Singapore are up 0.8 and 0.3 percent, respectively. Taiwan and Hong Kong are flat.

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Thursday following the substantial rally seen during Wednesday's session. The major averages fluctuated over the course of the trading day before eventually closing in negative territory.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the day more firmly in the red amid a slump by shares of Apple (AAPL), sliding 172.94 points or 0.9 percent to 19,338.29. The Dow and the S&P 500 posted more modest losses. The Dow dipped 68.42 points or 0.2 percent to 43,153.13 and the S&P 500 slipped 12.57 points or 0.2 percent to 5,937.34.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index surged by 2.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index jumped by 1.1 percent and the German DAX Index climbed by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on Thursday after Israel and Hamas agreed to implement a ceasefire agreement that was drafted and approved by the UN Security Council. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled lower by $1.36 or 1.7 percent at $78.68 a barrel.