Asian markets trade lower in early deals on Friday

01 Apr 2016 Evaluate

Asian equity benchmarks are trading down in the early deals on Friday despite better-than-expected Chinese manufacturing surveys, as investors turned cautious ahead of the release of the closely-watched US monthly jobs data later in the day. Hong Kong and Shanghai stocks sank as profit-taking and a cut to the outlook for China’s credit rating overshadowed a surprise jump in a gauge of the country’s manufacturing activity. Activity in China's vast manufacturing sector expanded in March for the first time in nine months as the official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) surprised at 50.2. Meanwhile, the Japanese stock market is down sharply, after the Bank of Japan's Tankan survey results showed that business sentiment in Japan worsened in the first quarter of 2016. The large manufacturers' index came in with a score of 6 for the first three months of the year. This was down sharply from the reading of 12 recorded for the fourth quarter. Economists had expected a slight decline, but the drop was far more steep than predicted.

Nikkei 225 slipped 537.75 points or 3.21% to 16,220.92, Hang Seng contracted 275.06 points or 1.32% to 20,501.64, Straits Times dipped 23.76 points or 0.84% to 2,817.14, Jakarta Composite dropped 10.08 points or 0.21% to 4,835.29, Shanghai Composite decreased 42.69 points or 1.42% to 2,961.22, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI declined 6.86 points or 0.40% to 1,710.72, KOSPI Index crumbled 18.02 points or 0.90% to 1,977.83, and Taiwan Weighted was down by 103.72 points or 1.19% to 8,641.11.

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