Sentiments in the Asian region continued to remain bearish for second consecutive day and most of the Asian equity indices snapped the last trading day of the week in the negative terrain on Friday as downbeat US housing, jobless claims and manufacturing data raised anxiety about the outlook for the world's largest economy, eclipsing stronger-than-expected U.S. earnings, a positive Spanish bond auction and improved prospects for the International Monetary Fund's resources to expand. The Labor Department said weekly applications for unemployment benefits were down 2,000 to 386,000 but anything above 375,000 is generally taken as a sign that hiring is not strong enough to lower the unemployment rate.
On the regional turf, Korean and Japanese exporters underperformed on concerns over the global growth outlook. Meanwhile, Japanese Nikkei edged lower to post its third straight weekly loss after a Spanish bond auction failed to extinguish fears of a renewed euro zone debt crisis, but a weaker yen offered support. While, Chinese Shanghai Composite ended with a gain of over a percentage point, boosted by expectations of further policy easing after a senior government economist said China's economic growth may rebound in the third quarter of this year and that there is room to adjust the country's macroeconomic policy.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 2,406.86 | 28.23 | 1.19 |
Hang Seng | 21,010.64 | 15.63 | 0.07 |
Jakarta Composite | 4,181.37 | 17.65 | 0.42 |
KLSE Composite | 1,591.85 | -4.77 | -0.30 |
Nikkei 225 | 9,561.36 | -27.02 | -0.28 |
Straits Times | 2,994.48 | -13.73 | -0.46 |
Seoul Composite | 1,974.65 | -25.21 | -1.26 |
Taiwan Weighted | 7,507.15 | -115.54 | -1.52 |