Asian markets settled mostly lower on Friday due to lingering worries over US interest rates, while many investors are also cautiously awaiting the release of the US personal consumption expenditures price index for January later in the day to gauge the Fed's rate-hike stance. Asian equities weakened further, despite Wall Street gains overnight after better than expected fourth quarter profits announced by chip maker Nvidia. Chinese shares declined as China reiterated its calls for a political settlement to the Ukraine war. However, Japanese shares gained in spite of data that showed Japan's core inflation rate hit a four-decade high of 4.2 percent in January. The incoming head of Japan's central bank said he didn’t think the relatively high inflation rate would last and the central bank should continue its loose monetary policy.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 3,267.16 | -20.32 | -0.62 |
Hang Seng | 20,010.04 | -341.31 | -1.71 |
Jakarta Composite | 6,856.58 | 17.13 | 0.25 |
KLSE Composite | 1,456.80 | -0.85 | -0.06 |
Nikkei 225 | 27,453.48 | 349.16 | 1.27 |
Straits Times | 3,282.30 | 17.37 | 0.53 |
KOSPI Composite | 2,423.61 | -15.48 | -0.64 |
Taiwan Weighted | 15,503.79 | -111.62 | -0.72 |
