Asian Markets Mixed After Wall Street Falls on Fed Powell Comments, China Data in Focus
Asia-Pacific markets were mixed on Friday, diverging from Wall Street after U.S. Federal Reserve Jerome Powell said the central bank does not need to “rush to lower interest rates.”
Speaking in Dallas, Powell suggested that strong U.S. economic growth would allow policymakers to take their time in deciding how far and how quickly they should cut interest rates.
In Asia, investors will assess key economic data from China on Friday, which will release October figures for retail sales, industrial output and urban unemployment.
Japan on Friday reported its third-quarter GDP rose 0.3% year-on-year, ending two straight quarters of year-on-year declines. Quarter-on-quarter, GDP rose 0.2%, in line with a Reuters poll estimate.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.93% after the GDP announcement, while the broad-based Topix gained 0.87%. The yen weakened 0.14% against the U.S. dollar to 156.47.
In contrast, South Korea's Kospi was 0.45% lower, and the small-cap Kosdaq was down 0.97%.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 started the day up 0.53%.
Futures for Hong Kong's Hang Seng index were at 19,464, also indicating a positive open compared with the HSI's close of 19,435.81.
Overnight in the U.S., all three indexes fell, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.47%.
The S&P 500 fell 0.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.64%.
The so-called "Trump trade" also lost steam as the market rally cooled. Tesla plunged 5.8%, while the benchmark Russell 2000 small-cap index fell more than 1%, underperforming the major averages.
Source: CNBC
