Asia report: Most markets lower, dollar strengthens

Markets in Asia mostly suffered on Friday, after a mixed session on Wall Street overnight, with technology plays firmly in the red.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was down 0.9% at 23,274.53, as the yen weakened 0.44% against the dollar to last trade at JPY 109.88.

SoftBank was the big tech loser in Tokyo, falling 1.4%, while among other prominent large caps were Fanuc Manufacturing and Fast Retailing, which were down 1.3% and 1.96% respectively.

Airlines also flew significantly lower in the land of the rising sun, with ANA Holdings down 4.06%.

The Bank of Japan emerged in a bid to halt the rise in Japanese bond yields during the day, offering to purchase an infinite number of long-term government bonds.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite added 0.46% to 3,462.94, and the smaller, technology-heavy Shenzhen Composite eked out gains of 0.03%.

South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.68% to 2,525.39, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong slipped 0.12% to 32.601.78.

On the tech front, Samsung Electronics lost 4.26% and Samsung SDI was off 4.53%, while shipmaker SK Hynix was down 2.96%.

Oil prices slipped, with Brent crude last down 0.35% at $69.41 and West Texas Intermediate losing 0.12% to $65.72 per barrel.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 managed to gain 0.51% to 6,121.40, led by the energy and gold sectors, which were up 2.42% and 1.53% respectively.

The hefty financials subindex managed to climb 0.63% by end-of-play.

Across the Tasman Sea in New Zealand, the S&P/NZX 50 rose 0.4% to 8,415.29, led higher by an ascending Air New Zealand, which was ahead 2.6%.

The primarily state-owned flag carrier published its December operating figures earlier in the week, showing an improvement in both passenger numbers and revenue passenger kilometres.

Both of the down under dollars were weaker against the greenback, with the Aussie last off 0.66% at AUD 1.2521 and the Kiwi losing 0.52% to NZD 1.3590.