Asian stock markets are trading mixed on Friday, with investors mostly treading cautiously after the previous session's sharp setback.
The Australian market is trading notably lower, with stocks from across various sectors reeling under a fairly severe bout of selling pressure. Consumer discretionary, financial, healthcare and energy stocks are mostly trading sharply lower. Mining stocks are mixed.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index, which tumbled to 4,982.5, is currently trading at 4,994.4, down 68 points or 1.3 percent from its previous close. The broader All Ordinaries index is down 65.8 points or 1.3 percent at 4,975.
Among bank stocks, ANZ Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and National Australia Bank are down 1 to 1.2 percent, while Westpac (WBK) is trading lower by over 2 percent. Bendigo & Adelaide Bank and Bank of Queensland are down 3 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively.
In the mining space, BHP Billiton (BHP), Rio Tinto (RIO) and Fortescue Metals are down 0.6 to 0.8 percent, while Newcrest Mining is trading in positive territory, adding 3.5 percent.
Among energy stocks, Woodside Petroleum, Santos and Caltex Australia are down 1 to 1.4 percent, and Origin Energy is losing 2.5 percent, while Oil Search is trading flat.
Primary Healthcare is trading lower by 5 percent. Seek, Tabcorp Holdings, James Hardie Industries, Amcor, Flight Centre and Aristocrat Leisure are down 3.5 to 4 percent.
Treasury Wine Estates, APA Group, Iluka Resources, Federation Centres, Spark Infrastructure Group, Lend Lease Group, Carsales.Com, Ansell and Brambles are all trading lower by 2.6 to 3.4 percent.
Echo Entertainment Group shares are down more than 10 percent following James Packer's Crown Limited confirming the sale of its stake in Echo. Crown sold its Echo shares for A$264 million on Thursday.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar opened higher against the U.S. dollar. In early trades, the Aussie jumped to US$0.9752, up from Thursday's close of US$0.9623.
The Japanese market opened sharply higher, with investors indulging in some hectic buying after the previous session's terrible setback. Chemicals, automobile, banking, machinery, retail, steel and real estate stocks opened on a buoyant note and are still trading sharply higher.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which opened nearly 250 points up at 14,731.8, raced past the 15,000 mark in a flash, and is currently trading at 14,908, up 424 points or 2.9 percent from its previous close. The index had ended with a steep 7.3 percent loss on Thursday.
Sharp Corp. is up 10 percent. Hino Motors, Mitsumi Electric, Tokyo Electric Power, Comsys Holdings Corp., Mazda Motor, Suzuki Motor, Isuzu Motors, Seven & I Holdings, Pioneer Corp., JGC Corp., Fuji Heavy Industries, Oki Electric Industry and Casio Computer are all trading higher by 6 to 9 percent.
Trend Micro, Nippon Suisan Kaisha, Mitsubishi Motors, Shinsei Bank, GS Yuasa, Takashimaya, Nikon Corp., Advantest Corp. (ATE) and TDK Corp. are up by over 4 percent.
Olympus Corp., Daikin Industries, Kansai Electric Power, Daiichi Sankyo, Mitsui Chemicals, Nippon Soda and Konic Minolta are also trading sharply higher.
Meanwhile, Kyocera Corp. is trading lower by over 6 percent. Toyota Motor (TM) is down 2.6 percent. Oji Holdings, Mitsubishi Corp., Mitsui & Co., and Toho Co. are down 1 to 1.4 percent.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the lower 102 yen range in early deals in Tokyo. The yen is currently trading at 102.48 to the U.S. dollar.
Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong and Taiwan are down marginally. New Zealand is trading notably lower, while Shanghai, Indonesia and South Korea are trading in positive territory. Markets in Singapore and Malaysia are closed for Wesak Day holiday.
On Wall Street, stocks recovered after a sharp setback and ended just marginally lower on Thursday. While concerns about the Federal Reserve scaling back its asset purchase program and weak Chinese manufacturing data triggered a sell-off early on, strong housing data pulled the market off its lower levels.
The major averages climbed well off their worst levels of the day but still ended the session in the red. The Dow edged down 12.7 points or 0.1 percent to 15,294.5, the Nasdaq declined 3.9 points or 0.1 percent to 3,459.4 and the S&P 500 dipped 4.8 points or 0.3 percent to 1,650.5.
Major European markets ended sharply lower on Thursday. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index, the French CAC 40 index and the German DAX index all tumbled by over 2 percent.
U.S. crude oil pared much of the early losses but still ended a tad lower for a second straight day on Thursday, after some weak manufacturing data out of China renewed fears of demand growth concerns. Nevertheless, oil prices rallied on some upbeat macroeconomic data out of the U.S.
Crude for July delivery ended down $0.03 at $94.25 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after plunging to a low of $92.21 a barrel during the session.
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