Japanese shares ended the day down but Chinese markets gained in disjointed Asian trade on Friday, after Wall Street cheered strong results from electric car giant Tesla.
US futures were holding steady after Elon Musk’s company surged nearly 22 percent on the back of higher earnings following a streak of disappointing results, helping to lift the Nasdaq and S&P 500.
The Dow, however, was pulled lower by disappointing results from IBM and Honeywell.
“US shares are somewhat mixed at the close” and “for a change, the US dollar has actually lost value”, said Phil Dobbie on National Australia Bank’s Morning Call podcast.
In Asian trade on Friday, Tokyo stocks closed more than half a percent lower, while Hong Kong and Shanghai saw healthy gains.
Taipei, Seoul, Sydney, Bangkok and Manila were also higher, but Singapore and Jakarta lost ground, while Wellington was flat.
Paris and Frankfurt were down in early trade, and London was more or less flat.
Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management pointed to uncertainty over elections this weekend and an upcoming Bank of Japan meeting as complicating the outlook for Japanese equities.
“And let’s not forget USD/JPY blowing past the 150 mark. Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato is ringing the alarm bells, warning of ‘one-sided’ moves in the yen. Still, BOJ Governor (Kazuo) Ueda seems to be in no rush to do anything drastic,” he said.
“Between election jitters and BOJ chess moves, Tokyo markets are probably in for a busy opening on Monday.”
Inflation for Tokyo city slowed in October, data showed, ahead of national elections on Sunday and a central bank policy decision on October 31, where no rate change is expected.
Chinese markets, meanwhile, were recovering from their losses of the previous day, encouraged by a rebound in real estate sales, which fueled optimism about economic growth.
In the United States, Treasury yields have pushed higher in recent days, although they retreated on Thursday, with uncertainty on trading floors also high less than two weeks ahead of US elections, with the outcome still far from clear.
Observers say some dealers are eyeing a win for Donald Trump and policies such as tax cuts that could stoke inflation.
That, along with a strong run of US economic data and remarks from Federal Reserve officials backing a cautious approach to easing monetary policy, has seen expectations for rate cuts whittled back.
– Key figures around 0715 GMT –
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.6 percent at 37,913.92 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.5 percent at 20,588.57
Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.6 percent at 3,299.70 (close)
London – FTSE 100: FLAT at 8,271.24
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0822 from $1.0832 on Thursday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2968 from $1.2972
Dollar/yen: UP at 151.91 yen from 151.83 yen
Euro/pound: DOWN at 83.43 pence from 83.47 pence
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.4 percent at $70.46 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.4 percent at $74.68 per barrel
New York – Dow: DOWN 0.3 percent at 42,374.36 (close)
kaf-smw/dhc
