Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Friday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, amid renewed concerns about a military conflict between the U.S. and Iran, with reports suggesting American military intervention may be imminent. Regional trading volumes remained thin amid the Lunar New Year holidays in China and Taiwan. Asian markets ended mostly higher on Thursday.
Traders also seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of closely watched readings on US consumer price inflation later in the day that could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates.
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June 19, 2026 16:46 ET Major central banks continued to dominate the economic news flow this week too, led by the Federal Reserve, as they announced their latest policy decisions. The Federal Reserve policy session was in focus as it was the first to be led by the new chief Kevin Warsh. In Europe, central banks of the U.K. and Switzerland announced their rate decisions. In Asia, the Bank of Japan drew attention for its policy moves, while data out of China threw some light on the state of the economy.