Asian stock markets are exhibiting a mixed trend on Friday following the modest losses on Wall Street and as investors continued to digest the possibility of an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve in December. Lower commodity prices weighed on resource stocks.
The Australian market is flat, as investors treaded cautiously following the modest losses overnight on Wall Street and lower commodity prices.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 Index is adding 3.7 points or 0.07 percent to 5,246.30, off a high of 5,272.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is advancing 4.5 points or 0.09 percent to 5,297.80.
In the banking sector, ANZ Banking, Westpac, National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank are higher in a range of 0.5 percent to 0.7 percent.
In the mining sector, BHP Billiton is adding 0.3 percent and Rio Tinto is rising 0.4 percent, while Fortescue Metals is losing 2 percent.
Gold miner Newcrest Mining is up more than 1 percent and Evolution Mining is adding almost 3 percent as gold prices rebounded from near six-year lows and rose overnight.
Among oil stocks, Santos is down almost 4 percent and Woodside Petroleum is losing 0.7 percent, while Oil Search is adding 0.2 percent following the decline in crude oil prices overnight.
Primary Health Care has issued a profit warning, saying it expects underlying profit for 2016 to be five percent lower than the prior year. The medical centres operator's shares are lower by almost 10 percent.
Slater & Gordon has revised its financial results for the past two year and said it will bolster its resources to assure the robustness of reporting. The law firm's shares are losing almost 10 percent.
AV Jennings has reiterated its construction outlook for the full year and projected continued strength in the sector. However, the homebuilder's shares are down almost 2 percent.
Kathmandu Holdings announced strong same store-sales growth and reiterated its full-year profit outlook. Shares of the company are gaining almost 5 percent.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar has extended gains against the U.S. dollar on Friday as the greenback softened after the Federal Reserve said rate increases would come gradually. In early trades, the local unit was trading at US$0.7196, up from US$0.7169 on Thursday.
The Japanese market is lower, tracking the weak lead overnight from Wall Street and a stronger yen.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 120.05 points or 0.60 percent to 19739.76, off a low of 19,715.74 earlier.
Among the major exporters, Panasonic is lower by 0.5 percent and Sony is down 1.5 percent, while Canon and Toshiba are losing 0.4 percent.
Automaker Toyota is advancing more than 1 percent, while Honda is lower by 1.7 percent.
Sharp is gaining more than 6 percent after the consumer electronics company said it may shut its remaining overseas television factories, but still expects its television operations to turn profitable in 2016.
Market heavyweight Fast Retailing is lower by 0.4 percent, while SoftBank is adding 0.2 percent.
In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is declining 1.3 percent, Mizuho Financial Group is down 0.3 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is losing almost 1 percent.
Lawson is said to exploring a foray into banking business by using its network of more than 12,000 convenience stores throughout Japan. Shares of the company are adding 0.7 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Meiji Holdings is up more than 3 percent and Taiyo Yuden is rising almost 3 percent. Meanwhile, Nippon Electric Glass is losing 2.7 percent and Tokyo Tatemono is down 2.6 percent.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the upper 122 yen-range on Friday, down from Thursday's close in the lower 123 yen-range in Tokyo.
Elsewhere in Asia, Shanghai, South Korea, New Zealand, Indonesia and Malaysia are up with modest gains. Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan are marginally lower.
On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction throughout the trading day on Thursday and ended slightly lower as traders took a breather on the heels of the volatility seen over the past few sessions.
The Dow slipped 4.41 points or less than 0.1 percent to 17,732.75, the Nasdaq edged down 1.56 points or less than 0.1 percent to 5,073.64 and the S&P 500 dipped 2.34 points or 0.1 percent to 2,081.24.
The major European markets moved to the upside on Thursday. While the German DAX Index shot up by 1.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index advanced by 0.8 percent and the French CAC 40 Index edged up by 0.2 percent.
Crude oil prices remained under pressure Thursday as Federal Reserve officials signalled interest rate hikes are coming. Crude oil for January delivery slipped $0.23 to $41.72 a barrel.
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May 01, 2026 15:54 ET Central banks dominated the economics news flow this week with almost all major ones announcing their latest policy decisions and many boosted expectations for a rate hike in June. In other news, several countries released the preliminary data for first quarter economic growth. In the U.S., comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell were also in focus as his term ends this month.