HONG KONG — Asian stocks were mostly lower Friday, with Japan’s benchmark Nikkei losing over 2% in early trading after a sharp decline on Wall Street driven by high expectations.
United States futures and oil prices were higher.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 sank 2.6% to 38,053.67. On Thursday, the Bank of Japan announced it would keep its benchmark rate unchanged at 0.25%, which was in line with market expectations. The Japanese yen traded lower Friday. The dollar rose to 152.50 Japanese yen from 152.00 yen.
China markets were the exception from Friday’s downturn vibe. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 0.8% to 20,473.16 and the Shanghai Composite index was up in morning trading but slipped 0.1% in the afternoon at 3,276.52.
Factory activity in China went back into growth in October, with the official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index released Thursday reaching 50.1, ending five straight months of contraction. Another private survey Friday also showed a reading of 50.3, above the expansion line of 50.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.5% to 8,118.80 after its producer price index in the third quarter rose 3.9% year-on-year — a return to below 4.0% annual growth for the first time since September 2023, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Elsewhere, South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.5% at 2,543.04. Taiwan’s Taiex lost 0.2%, weighed down by a 0.5% decline in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., Apple’s chip supplier. Apple’s quarterly earnings report Thursday revealed a drop in sales revenue from China.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 sank 1.9% to 5,705.45 for its worst day in eight weeks, and fell further from its record set earlier in October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.9% to 41,763.46, while the Nasdaq composite tumbled 2.8% to 18,095.15 for a second-straight loss after setting its latest all-time high.
Microsoft reported bigger profit growth for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its revenue also topped forecasts, but its stock nevertheless sank 6% as investors and analysts scoured for possible disappointments.
Meanwhile, the parent company of Facebook likewise served up a better-than-expected profit report. As with Microsoft, that wasn’t enough to boost its stock. Investors focused instead on Meta Platforms’ warning that it expects a “significant acceleration” in spending next year as it continues to pour money into developing artificial intelligence. It fell 4.1%.
The tumble for Big Tech on the last day of October wiped out the S&P 500’s gain for the month. The index fell 1% for its first down month in the past six, even though it set an all-time high during that period.
In the bond market, Treasury yields edged lower following a mixed set of reports on the U.S. economy.
One report said a measure of inflation that the Federal Reserve likes to use slowed to 2.1% in September from 2.3%. That’s almost all the way back to the Fed’s 2% target, though underlying trends — after ignoring food and energy costs — were a touch hotter than economists expected.
A separate report said growth in workers’ wages and benefits slowed during the summer. That could put less pressure on upcoming inflation.
A third report, meanwhile, said fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits the previous week. That’s an indication that the number of layoffs remains relatively low across the country.
Treasury yields bobbed up and down several times after the reports, before moving lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.27% from 4.30% late Wednesday. That’s still up sharply from the roughly 3.60% level it was at in the middle of September.
In other dealings, U.S. benchmark crude oil gained $1.32 to $70.58 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the international standard, surged $1.32 to $74.13 per barrel.
The euro fell to $1.0873 from $1.0885.
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AP Business Writer Stan Choe in New York contributed.
