Oil prices regained lost ground on Friday as the Chinese stock market rose and investors hunted for bargains after this week’s selloff.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 69.38 points, or 0.4%, to 17,697.96.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong hiked 120.37 points, or 0.6%, to 20,453.71
Energy plays around the region traded mixed, however, In Australia, Woodside Petroleum, Oil Search and Santos closed up as much 4.7%. Chinese oil plays were also in positive territory, with Hong Kong-listed CNOOC, PetroChina and Sinopec up as much as 5.6%.
But Japanese energy plays Inpex and Japan Petroleum closed lower. Reports said Japan's Economy Minister Akira Amari said the continued decline in oil prices, though not a good sign for the world economy, would improve Japan's terms of trade. The country's finance ministry said foreign reserves at the end of December ticked up to $1.23 trillion U.S.
Gold miners appeared to continue to benefit from market turmoil, with an uptick in share prices. Newcrest tacked on 1.5% and Alacer Gold rose 6.3% by the market close.
Meanwhile, Japan's Fast Retailing saw its shares retrace some early losses to close down 2.3% after the company cut its full-year profit outlook to 180 billion yen ($1.5 billion U.S.) for the year through end-August. Reports said the company saw a 12% fall in December sales on year in its domestic Uniqlo outlets due to warm weather. Previous forecast estimated 200 billion yen in profit.
In South Korea, shares of heavyweight Samsung Electronics traded higher, rising 0.7%, despite the company missing expectations on its fourth quarter operating profit. The consumer electronics giant said its profit for the October-December quarter likely rose 15% on-year to 6.1 trillion won ($5.10 billion U.S.). A survey of analysts estimated that number would be at 6.6 trillion won.
CHINA
The CSI 300 Index recovered 67.18 points, or 2%, to 3,361.56.
China's regulatory body, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, on Thursday suspended the recently implemented circuit breakers, a regulatory tool designed to limit how far stocks can fall after the market shut down for a second time this week. The first shutdown was triggered on Monday after the CSI300 index fell more than 7%.
The weakening of the yuan has also weighed on the market. Before trading began, the People's Bank of China set its yuan mid-point at 6.5636 against the dollar, indicating the Chinese currency would trade slightly stronger, after Thursday's fixing guided the yuan lower at its fastest pace since August's devaluation. On Thursday, the dollar was fetching 6.5926 yuan at the close of trade.
In other markets
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index picked up 21.32 points, or 0.8%, to 2,751.23
The Kospi in Korea moved forward 13.29 points, or 0.7%, to 1,917.62
Taiwan’s Taiex index tacked on 41.91 points, or 0.5%, to 7,893.97
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 dipped 55.28 points, or 0.9%, to 6,158.11
The ASX 200 slipped 19.5 points, or 0.4%, to 4,990.84
