HONG KONG — Asian shares were largely lower on Friday as Chinese markets fell as investors await a key briefing on the details of the coming stimulus plan this weekend.
US futures and oil prices were lower.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.6% to close at 39,605.80. The Australian S&The P/ASX 200 fell 0.1% to 8,214.50.
Chinese shares fell in Friday trading. The Shanghai Composite lost 2.9% to 3,025.31, and the CSI 300 Index, which tracks the top 300 stocks trading in the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets, lost 3.2%.
Hong Kong markets were closed on Friday for a public holiday. The index fell on Tuesday more than 9%This is the biggest loss since the 2008 global financial crisis.
All market attention has been on a briefing the Chinese Finance Ministry has scheduled for Saturday, where it is expected to unveil long-awaited fiscal stimulus plans.
Earlier this week, details of Beijing officials’ economic stimulus plans disappointed markets as many had hoped the new fiscal policy would follow the government’s moves. previous announcements which were made in late September, aiming to revive the struggling real estate market and stimulate economic growth.
Elsewhere, South Korea’s central bank cut interest rates by 25 basis points to 3.25% on Friday, signaling a shift toward an easing cycle aimed at boosting economic growth. This is the Bank of Korea’s first interest rate cut since 2020, following a contraction in gross domestic product in the second quarter along with inflation in September that fell below the central bank’s 2% target.
The Kospi in Seoul fell 0.1% to 2,596.91.
On Thursday, US stock prices fell from previous records after reports showed inflation was slightly warmer last month than expected and More and more employees applied for unemployment benefits last week.
The S&The P 500 fell 0.2% to 5,780.05, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1% to 42,454.12 after falling 0.1% to 42,454.12. all time high the day before. The Nasdaq index fell 0.1% to 18,282.05.
Stock prices have soared to records in large part thanks to interest rate cut excitement, now that the Federal Reserve is doing the same they cut because it broadens his focus keep the economy running instead of ordinary fight against high inflation.
Thursday’s report showed consumer price index inflation fell to 2.4% in September from 2.5% in August, but economists expected an even sharper slowdown to 2.3%. And after ignoring swings in food, gasoline and other energy prices, the underlying trends, which economists say can be a better predictor of the direction of inflation, were slightly hotter than expected.
At the same time, a separate report showed that 258,000 U.S. workers filed for unemployment benefits last week. That number is relatively low compared to history, but it was a sharper acceleration than economists expected. Hurricane Helene and a strike by workers at Boeing may have helped make the number look worse.
In the bond market, Treasury yields rose immediately after the economic data release, only to bounce back and forth as traders tried to weigh in on what this would all mean for the Fed.
The yield on the 10-year government bond remained at 4.07%, the level at the end of Wednesday. The yield on two-year Treasury notes, which better tracks expectations for the Fed, fell to 3.96% from 4.02% late Wednesday.
In other trades, benchmark U.S. crude lost 92 cents to $74.93 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell $1.04 to $78.36 a barrel.
The dollar rose from 148.51 yen to 148.68 Japanese yen. The euro cost $1.0937, up from $1.0936.