Hong Kong stocks broke a three-day losing streak on Friday, after swinging between gains and losses as earnings reports came in, and as other regional markets closed mixed.
The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo dipped 35.27 points, or 0.2%, to 15,424.59. The yen weakened to ¥103.892 per U.S. dollar, from ¥103.678 per U.S. dollar a day earlier.
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong inched up 1.06 points to 24,742.06.
Oil shares were stronger, with offshore oil producer CNOOC Ltd. advancing 2.9%, after it posted better-than-expected first-half net profit.
PetroChina Co. Ltd., the country’s largest oil and gas producer, rose 0.4%, after its 4% increase in interim earnings came in line with market expectations.
However, China’s largest alumina producer Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd., also known as Chalco, tumbled 4.6%, as its net losses widened to 4.1 billion yuan ($664 million U.S.) in the first six months of this year.
Among other market movers, property developer Sino-Ocean Land Holdings Ltd. improved by 2.1% and telecoms giant China Mobile moved 1.1% higher. Mainland bank China Minsheng Banking Corp., Ltd. gave up 1.8%, and online major Tencent Holdings pulled back 1%.
Australian markets ended flat. Meanwhile, the Australian dollar dropped to 93.51 U.S. cents, from 93.58 U.S. cents.
In other markets;
The Shanghai CSI 300 index regained 27.01 points, or 1.2%, to 2,338.29
In Singapore, the Straits Times STI Index slipped 3.13 points, or 0.1%, to 3,327.09
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index lost 42.10 points, or 0.4%, to 9,436.27
In Korea, the Kospi index stepped back 7.22 to 0.4%, to 2,068.54
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 dumped 14.21 points, or 0.3%, to 5,223.30
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 eked up 1.49 points to 5,625.90
