Asian markets settled mostly lower in cautious trading on Friday in fears of a possible recession in this year. Overnight fall in Wall Street shares in reaction to weak economic data and a mixed bag of earnings from US companies also weighed on market sentiments. Chinese and Hong Kong shares dropped after China's uneven economic recovery and increasing Sino-US tensions kept sentiments bearish. Moreover, Japanese shares declined ahead to next week's Bank of Japan policy meeting for directional cues. Meanwhile, Japan’s core inflation for March came in at 3.1%, unchanged from February, data showed.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 3,301.26 | -65.77 | -1.99 |
Hang Seng | 20,075.73 | -321.24 | -1.60 |
Jakarta Composite | -- | -- | -- |
KLSE Composite | -- | - | - |
Nikkei 225 | 28,564.37 | -93.20 | -0.33 |
Straits Times | 3,321.82 | 8.41 | 0.25 |
KOSPI Composite | 2,544.40 | -18.71 | -0.74 |
Taiwan Weighted | 15,602.99 | -104.53 | -0.67 |
