(RTTNews) – The sell-off on Wall Street overnight dragged Asian stock markets into the red on Friday, as traders reacted to US Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s upbeat remarks that the central bank “will not hesitate” to resume raising interest rates. if it suits. The rise in Treasury yields also weighed on the markets. Asian markets ended mostly higher on Thursday.
Participating in a policy panel in Washington, Powell acknowledged that US inflation has slowed over the past year, but pointed out that it remains well above the Fed’s 2 percent target. He added that the central bank will continue to move carefully and decide on its policy path meeting by meeting.
Having given up the gains in the previous session, the Australian stock is notably lower on Friday, following the broadly negative signals from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falls below the 7,000 mark, dragged down by weakness in energy, financials and technology stocks.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 39.60 points or 0.57 per cent to 6,975.30, after hitting a low of 6,964.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 41.00 points or 0.57 percent to 7,174.10. Australian markets ended modestly higher on Thursday.
Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto gain nearly 1 percent each, while Fortescue Metals adds more than 1 percent. Mineral Resources loses more than 1 percent. Oil supplies are mostly lower. Santos loses almost 1 percent and Origin Energy is down almost 2 percent, while Woodside Energy and Beach energy are down more than 1 percent each.
Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is losing nearly 2 percent, while Xero and Appen are down more than 2 percent each. WiseTech Global is up 0.3 percent and Zip is adding more than 1 percent.
Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac lose almost 1 percent each, while ANZ Banking is down more than 1 percent and National Australia Bank is down more than 2 percent. Gold miners are mostly lower. Northern Star Resources loses more than 1 percent and Evolution Mining is down almost 1 percent, while Resolute Mining is up 0.5 percent. Gold Road Resources is flat, while trading in Newcrest Mining is suspended.
In other news, shares in Imugene are up more than 20 percent after the cancer tech developer officially dosed the first patent in a much-anticipated Phase 1b drug trial based in the US.
In the foreign exchange market, the Australian dollar is trading at $0.636 on Friday.
Having given up the gains in the previous session, the Japanese stock market is significantly lower on Friday, following the broadly negative signals from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark Nikkei 225 falls below the 32,400 level, dragged down by weakness in index heavyweights and exporters.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 32,450.03, down 196.43 points or 0.60 percent, after hitting a low of 32,248.24 earlier. Japanese stocks closed sharply higher on Thursday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing nearly 6 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is down nearly 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda slips more than 7 percent and Toyota is down more than 1 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is losing more than 2 percent, while Tokyo Electron is up 0.3 percent and Screen Holdings is up more than 5 percent.
In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial gains more than 1 percent, Mizuho Financial rises 0.4 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial adds almost 1 percent.
Among major exporters, Sony is down nearly 4 percent, Panasonic is down more than 2 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is down 0.2 percent, while Canon is up 0.4 percent.
Among other major losers, GC Holdings is down nearly 13 percent and Nikon is plunging more than 10 percent, while Kobe Steel and Takara Holdings are losing more than 5 percent each. Renesas Electronics slipped nearly 5 percent, while Nissan Motor and Recruit Holdings lost more than 4 percent each. Sumco is down more than 3 percent, while Subaru and Nintendo are down nearly 3 percent.
Conversely, Trend Micro soars nearly 16 percent, Resonac Holdings soars more than 11 percent, Comsys Holdings soars nearly 8 percent, Taiheiyo Cement gains nearly 6 percent and NEXON adds more than 5 percent, while T&D Holdings and Pacific Metals are. more than 3 percent each.
In economic news, the M2 money stock in Japan grew by 2.4 percent year-on-year in October, the Bank of Japan said on Friday – coming in at 1,235.1 trillion yen. That was in line with expectations and unchanged from the September reading.
The M3 money stock rose 1.8 percent year-on-year to 1,590.2 trillion yen, also unchanged from the previous month. The L-money stock rose 2.0 percent year-on-year at 2,114.8 trillion yen, down from 2.1 percent a month earlier.
In the currency market, the US dollar is trading in the lower 151-yen range on Friday.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong and South Korea are down 1.6 and 1.0 percent, respectively, while New Zealand, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan are down between 0.1 and 0.6 percent each. On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction during much of morning trading Thursday but came under considerable pressure in the afternoon. The major averages all showed notable moves to the downside, with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 snapping their longest winning streaks in two years.
The major averages rose from their worst levels of late, but remained firmly negative. The Nasdaq fell 128.97 points or 0.9 percent to 13,521.45, the S&P 500 slipped 35.43 points or 0.8 percent to 4,347.35 and the Dow fell 220.33 points or 0.7 percent to 394,891.
Meanwhile, the main European markets moved to the top on the day. While France’s CAC 40 Index jumped 1.1 percent, Germany’s DAX Index and Britain’s FTSE 100 Index advanced 0.8 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.
Crude oil prices climbed higher on Thursday after two straight sessions of decline on concerns about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for December were up $0.41, or 0.5 percent, at $75.74 a barrel, due to some short covering and bargain hunting.