Stocks in Asia Pacific mostly edged higher on Friday following Thursday’s drop that saw shares in China plunging more than 4%
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index dropped 73.94 points, or 0.3%, to 22,696.42.
The Japanese yen traded at 107.11 per U.S. dollar, in a turbulent trading week that has seen the currency going from levels around 107.4 to below 106.8 against the greenback.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index regained 118.48 points, or 0.5%, to 25,089.17.
Meanwhile, Singapore’s trade data released Friday showed a surge in non-oil domestic exports (NODX) for June. NODX for June soared 16.1% as compared to a year ago, beating expectations of a 6.2% increase by economists.
The data release came after the country’s latest gross domestic product numbers, released earlier this week, came in worse than analysts’ forecast and showed the nation’s economy entering a technical recession.
Friday’s moves followed a sharp Thursday fall in Chinese stocks along with U.S. jobless claims data that missed expectations. The initial jobless claims figure stateside came in at 1.3 million for the week ending July 11, the Labor Department said Thursday. That compared against expectations of 1.25 million by economists.
The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.699 after seeing levels around $0.7 yesterday.
CHINA
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 restocked 28.45 points, or 0.6%, to 4,544.70.
Tensions between Washington and Beijing may also have weighed on investor sentiment. Reuters reported Thursday, that U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is considering banning travel stateside by all members of the Chinese Communist Party and their families.
In other markets
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index lost 5.19 points, or 0.2% to 2,618.48
In Korea, the Kospi recovered 17.43 points, or 0.8%, to 2,201.19
In Taiwan, the Taiex index moved upward 23.82 points, or 0.2%, to 12,181.56
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 strengthened 78.99 points, or 0.7%, to 11,584.05
In Australia, the ASX 200 gained 22.76 points, or 0.4%, to 6,033.63.
