Chinese trade data out Friday did little to soothe worries in Asia about future monetary-policy tightening moves from Beijing, although bargain hunting helped support some regional stock markets.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 average moved ahead 47.29 points, or 0.5%, to wind up the week at 9,514.44
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index continued its collapse, giving back 189.46 points Friday, or 0.8%, to 22,420.40
Rate-sensitive property stocks were among the loss-leaders in Hong Kong, with Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd. falling 2.1%, Hang Lung Properties Ltd. down 2.3%, and Sino Land Co. ending with a 2.7% loss.
Many globally focused shares also ceded ground, with Li & Fung Ltd. down 3.5%, Alibaba.com Ltd. dropping 4.9%, and Tsingtao Brewery Co. losing 1.9% of its value.
In Tokyo, the picture was more mixed. Panasonic Corp. ended with a 1.4% gain, while Honda Motor Co. and rival Toyota Motor Corp. rose 0.9% each.
But Hitachi Ltd. lost 1.1%, Sharp Corp. fell 1%, and Elpida Memory Inc. gave up 1.4%.
In South Korea, Hynix Semiconductor shares fell 7%. The firm’s creditor shareholders are planing to sell their 15% controlling stake in the firm, valued at 2.58 trillion Korean won ($2.39 billion U.S.), according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, which cited a person familiar with the situation.
Also weighing on Seoul-listed shares, the Bank of Korea hiked its key policy rate by a quarter point to 3.25% on Friday, surprising the majority of economists cited in separate surveys by Dow Jones Newswires and Reuters.
With oil futures over $102 U.S. a barrel in Nymex electronic trading, and with metal futures firm, some energy and resource firms gained, with Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. up 2.6% in Tokyo, and Extract Resources Ltd. rising 1.7% in Sydney.
CHINA
Chinese trade data released Friday morning was weaker than expected. While the data showed May exports up 19.4% from a year earlier, the pace marked a sharp easing from a 29.9% rise in April, and was below a forecast of 20.4% tipped in a Dow Jones Newswires survey of economists.
Shanghai’s CSI 300 Index regained 10.04 points, or 0.3%, to 2,961.93
Still, some analysts saw little to suggest the People’s Bank of China would step back from its policy tightening, with strategists at RBC Capital Markets saying the numbers should "reinforce the case for further rate hikes."
The China data followed figures out Thursday showing the U.S. trade gap narrowing, which sparked optimism for economic growth trends there and helped U.S. stocks rebound from their longest losing stretch so far this year.
In other markets;
Korea’s Kospi Index eased 24.75 points, or 1.2%, to 2,046.67
Taiwan’s Taiex Index dropped sharply, losing 163.12 points, or 1.8%, to 8,837.12
Singapore’s Straits Times Index gave back 19.22 points, or 0.6%, to 3,078.35
New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index inched up 1.88 points to 3,490.63
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 12.50 points, or 0.3%, to 4,562.10
