Asian equity markets ended mostly lower on Thursday as caution prevailed amid lingering worries over Sino-US trade spat. Oil prices eased a touch as nerves grew ahead of Friday's meeting between OPEC and other big producers, including Russia, with growing expectations that the Vienna talks could result in an agreement to increase crude supplies. Speculation of imminent monetary policy easing in China helped to limit overall losses to some extent. Chinese shares ended lower as trade war woes overshadowed media reports that Beijing will undertake measures to boost credit supply to smaller companies. Meanwhile, Japanese shares eked out modest gains as the yen weakened and technology stocks followed their US peers higher.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 2,875.61 | -40.12 | -1.40 |
Hang Seng | 29,296.05 | -400.12 | -1.37 |
Jakarta Composite | 5,822.33 | -61.71 | -1.06 |
KLSE Composite | 1,692.32 | -17.43 | -1.02 |
Nikkei 225 | 22,693.04 | 137.61 | 0.61 |
Straits Times | 3,300.00 | -15.90 | -0.48 |
KOSPI Composite | 2,337.83 | -26.08 | -1.12 |
Taiwan Weighted | 10,941.07 | 13.63 | 0.12 |
