Asian markets ended mostly lower on Friday tracking biggest sell-off in Wall Street overnight since June following a steep decline in technology shares. Excessive valuations in the tech sector with looming US presidential election in November is heightening volatility, while US President Trump’s vaccine chief sees a very, very low chance of a vaccine by Election Day too weighed on market sentiment. Investors will be focusing on to the release of the closely-watched US monthly jobs report for August due later in the day, with expectations to show that employment surged up by 1.4 million jobs. Japanese shares ended down due to profit booking after strong gains in previous sessions.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 3,355.37 | -29.61 | -0.87 |
Hang Seng | 24,695.45 | -312.15 | -1.25 |
Jakarta Composite | 5,239.85 | -40.96 | -0.78 |
KLSE Composite | 1,515.86 | 0.46 | 0.03 |
Nikkei 225 | 23,205.43 | -260.10 | -1.11 |
Straits Times | 2,509.64 | -22.15 | -0.87 |
KOSPI Composite | 2,368.25 | -27.65 | -1.15 |
Taiwan Weighted | 12,637.95 | -120.02 | -0.94 |
