Asian Stocks Track Wall Street Lower, 3rd Weekly Decline Eyed
The Asian equity markets slipped on the final trading day of this week,
and remains poised to book third weekly drop, as sentiment soured
following heavy losses seen on Wall Street overnight.
However,
the Asian stocks find support from a rebound in the commodities’ prices
after the previous sell-off, while upbeat regional economic news
combined with a relatively weaker yen also offered some respite to the
markets, especially the Japanese stocks.
Nikkei drops, despite yen weakness
The Japanese benchmark index, the Nikkei 225
edged -0.56% lower to 15,661 points, as markets cheer upbeat Japan’s
current account data. The current account surplus expanded from
JPY520.8 billion in January to JPY2.43 trillion in February, coming in
higher than the forecast of a JPY2.03 trillion surplus. Meanwhile,
USD/JPY stalled its recovery and now trades around 108.60, still up
0.38% on the day.
The Australian markets were also weighed down
by yesterday’s oil price sell-off, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200
index losing -0.57% to trade at 4,935.
The Chinese equities had a
negative start and extends losses amid a broad regional sell-off , with
the benchmark Shanghai Composite index trading down -0.51%. The CSI300
index drops -0.44%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng tanks -0.90% to 20,100
levels.
(Market News Provided by FXstreet)