Asian stock markets are mostly lower on Friday, reflecting weakness in technology stocks and on worries about rising U.S. bond yields. Investors also turned cautious ahead of the release of the closely watched U.S. monthly jobs report for January later in the day. Meanwhile, higher commodity prices lifted resources stocks.
The Australian market recovered after a weak start and is advancing despite the mixed cues from Wall Street and an increase in U.S. bond yields. Higher commodity prices lifted resources stocks.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is adding 17.10 points or 0.28 percent to 6,107.20, after touching a low of 6,077.80 in early trades. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 17.70 points or 0.29 percent to 6,216.50.
The major miners are higher as copper prices rose. Fortescue Metals is rising more than 1 percent, BHP Billiton is advancing almost 1 percent and Rio Tinto is up 0.5 percent.
Among gold miners, Newcrest Mining is adding almost 1 percent and Evolution Mining is gaining almost 3 percent after gold prices edged higher.
In the oil sector, Santos is rising more than 2 percent, Woodside Petroleum is adding almost 2 percent and Oil Search is advancing more than 1 percent as crude oil prices advanced overnight.
The big four banks - ANZ Banking, National Australia Bank, Westpac and Commonwealth Bank - are advancing in a range of 0.1 percent to 0.5 percent.
James Hardie Industries reported a 9 percent decline in third-quarter profit on debt payments and higher income tax expenses, but raised the low end of its full-year operating profit outlook. The building material supplier's shares are rising almost 6 percent.
Telstra Corp. said it will incur an impairment charge of $273 million in its first-half results after writing down the value of its U.S. streaming business Ooyala. The telecom giant's shares are declining almost 1 percent.
Aristocrat Leisure's shares are in a trading halt as the poker machine supplier awaits a Federal Court decision on whether some of its gaming machines comply with federal legislation.
On the economic front, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that final demand producer prices in Australia were up 0.6 percent on quarter in the fourth quarter of 2017, following the 0.2 percent gain in the three months prior.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar was weaker against the U.S. dollar on Friday. The local unit was quoted at US$0.8038, down from US$0.8043 on Thursday.
The Japanese market is declining following the mixed cues overnight from Wall Street and on a stronger yen. Rising U.S. bond yields also dented investor sentiment.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 328.25 points or 1.40 percent to 23,157.86, off a low of 23,122.45 earlier. The Japanese market snapped a six-day losing streak and closed higher on Thursday.
The major exporters are mixed on a stronger yen. Canon is advancing almost 1 percent and Sony is adding 0.4 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric is losing more than 1 percent and Panasonic is declining 0.5 percent. SoftBank Group's shares are lower by 1 percent.
Among automakers, Toyota is declining 0.6 percent, while Honda is adding 0.1 percent. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is losing almost 1 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is lower by 1 percent.
In the oil space, Inpex and Japan Petroleum Exploration are losing more than 1 percent each despite higher crude oil prices overnight.
Among the market's best performers, Ricoh is gaining more than 12 percent on upbeat nine-month earnings results and raising its full-year forecast, while Kobe Steel is advancing more than 6 percent on a turnaround to profit in the nine-month period. Kao Corp. is higher by more than 3 percent.
On the flip side, Casio Computer and Konica Minolta are losing more than 7 percent each, while Kyocera is declining almost 6 percent and Okuma Corp. is lower by more than 4 percent.
On the economic front, the Bank of Japan said that the monetary base in Japan was up 9.7 percent on year in January, coming in at 477.259 trillion yen. That follows the 11.2 percent increase in December.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 109 yen-range on Friday.
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea, Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Taiwan are also lower, while New Zealand and Indonesia are modestly higher.
On Wall Street, stocks closed mixed on Thursday as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday. Earnings reports due after the close of trading from Google parent Alphabet, Amazon and Apple may also have kept traders on the sidelines.
While the Dow inched up 37.32 points or 0.1 percent to 26,186.71, the Nasdaq fell 25.62 points or 0.4 percent to 7,385.86 and the S&P 500 edged down 1.83 points or 0.1 percent to 2,821.98.
The major European markets all moved to the downside on Thursday. While the German DAX Index slumped by 1.4 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.6 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.
Crude oil prices rebounded Thursday amid signs that OPEC is complying with supply quotas. WTI crude rose $1.07 or 1.7 percent to close at $65.80 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, near its recent 4-year highs.
by RTT Staff Writer
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