Asian markets ended lower on Friday as lingering concerns over a retail trading frenzy in the United States kept market sentiments under pressure. Chinese shares ended lower due to concerns over continued tight liquidity conditions, despite the country's central bank PBoC injecting 100 billion yuan into the financial system. Further, Japanese shares declined after Citron Research, a short-selling hedge fund caught in the short-squeezing of Gamestop shares, said it would make a major announcement later in the day, while downbeat industrial production and unemployment data also dented investor sentiment. Japan Industrial Production dropped a seasonally adjusted 1.6 percent in December following the 0.5 percent fall in November, while the annual unemployment rate rose for the first time in 11 years.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 3,483.07 | -22.11 | -0.63 |
Hang Seng | 28,283.71 | -267.06 | -0.94 |
Jakarta Composite | 5,862.35 | -117.04 | -1.96 |
KLSE Composite | 1,566.40 | -14.22 | -0.90 |
Nikkei 225 | 27,663.39 | -534.03 | -1.89 |
Straits Times | 2,902.52 | -17.78 | -0.61 |
KOSPI Composite | 2,976.21 | -92.84 | -3.03 |
Taiwan Weighted | 15,138.31 | -277.57 | -1.80 |
