Asian markets closed mostly in red on Friday, while Shanghai also finished its volatile session slightly down, following a painful sell-off in the previous session. Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso stated that a weakening of Japan’s yen currency in recent days had been rough and he would monitor moves in the foreign exchange markets carefully. Japanese Economics Minister Akira Amari stated that the current pace of yen declines cannot necessarily be described as excessive. Amari enlightened that it has generally become difficult for any country to conduct currency intervention or take steps to directly weaken its currency. Japan’s industrial production rose to a seasonally adjusted 1.0%, from -0.8% in the preceding month. Japanese Housing Starts fell to a seasonally adjusted 0.4%, from 0.7% in the preceding quarter while Japanese Household Spending rose to a seasonally adjusted -1.3%, from -10.6% in the preceding month. South Korean Industrial Production fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of -2.7%, from 0.0% in the preceding month whose figure was revised up from -0.1%. South Korea warned that it would undertake smoothing operations when needed to tame the won’s rapid appreciation against the yen, as the yen/won cross fell to its lowest in more than seven years.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 4,611.74 | -8.52 | -0.18 |
Hang Seng | 27,424.19 | -30.12 | -0.11 |
Jakarta Composite | 5,216.38 | -21.02 | -0.40 |
KLSE Composite | 1,747.52 | -8.04 | -0.46 |
Nikkei 225 | 20,563.15 | 11.69 | 0.06 |
Straits Times | 3,392.11 | -25.66 | -0.75 |
KOSPI Composite | 2,114.80 | 3.91 | 0.19 |
Taiwan Weighted | 9,701.07 | -11.77 | -0.12 |