Asia-Pacific Markets Fall as Investors Await India Rate Decision, Assess Japan’s Spending Data
Asia-Pacific markets traded lower Friday as investors awaited India’s interest rate decision, and assessed Japan’s household spending data.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 traded around the flatline.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.34% and the Topix traded 0.32% lower. The country’s household spending in December rose 2.7% year on year in real terms, sharply beat Reuters’ expectations of a 0.2% rise.
South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.36%, while the small-cap Kosdaq fell 0.28%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.35%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 slipped 0.18%.
The Reserve Bank of India is likely to trim the benchmark repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.25%, as it concludes its policy meeting later in the day.
Overnight in the U.S., the three major averages closed higher. The S&P 500 climbed for a third straight session on Thursday as investors weighed the latest batch of corporate earnings.
The broad market index added 0.36% to 6,083.57, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.51% to 19,791.99. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, however, lost 125.65 points, or 0.28%, and closed at 44,747.63.
Source : CNBC
