Asian stocks ended mostly lower Friday, as Japanese financials and utilities dragged the Tokyo market downward, while strong gains in telecom shares helped lift Hong Kong to a positive close.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 Index sifted off 125.68 points, or 1.4%, to 8,669.87.
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong gained another 81.75 points, or 0.4%, to 19,640.80
The weekly performance was mixed, with the Hang Seng Index and the S&P/ASX 200 each rising 2.9%, while the Kospi advanced 0.6%, while the Nikkei Average finished the week with a 0.6% loss.
In Tokyo, power companies saw heavy selling, as Hokkaido Electric Power Co. fell 5.1%, Chubu Electric Power Co. dropped 5.8%, Kansai Electric Power Co. gave up 5.6%, and Tokyo Electric Power Co. lost 1.5%.
Financials also retreated sharply. Tokio Marine Holdings Inc. and Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co. gave up 3.4% each.
Among banks and brokerages, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. dropped 4.4%, and Shinsei Bank Ltd. sank 6.3%.
Shares of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. fell 3.4%, suffering an additional drag after Morgan Stanley reported its second-quarter profit fell 50%. Mitsubishi UFJ holds a more than 20% stake in the U.S. firm, according to FactSet.
Over in Hong Kong, an overnight rally in oil prices and concerns about earnings hurt airline stocks. China Eastern Airlines Corp. fell 1.8%, Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. surrendered 1.7%, and China Southern Airlines Co. retreated 0.5%.
Energy shares extended their recent strong run, with Inpex Corp. up 1.4% in Japan, and Beach Energy Ltd. higher by 5.3% in Sydney.
In Hong Kong, shares of Cnooc Ltd. ended up 0.9%, and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., better known as Sinopec, added 1.9%.
Shares of China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. jumped 7.2% to rank as the best performing Hong Kong blue chip, after the company released monthly operating data showing net 3G subscribers grew by 3.03 million for June, an 11% rise from May.
Shares of China Telecom Corp. rose 3.6%.
South Korea, meanwhile, saw some strength technology shares as LG Display Co. rose 2.4%, and SK Hynix Inc. jumped 4%, ahead of their earnings due out next week. Kia Motors Corp., which is also to report earnings next week, rose 0.9%.
In other markets
Shanghai’s CSI 300 index erased 25.87 points, or 1.1%, to 2,398.46
Korea’s Kospi Index deducted a mere 0.03 points to 1,822.93
Singapore's Straits Times Index fell 13.43 points, or 0.4%, to 3,015.53
Taiwan’s Taiex Index advanced 16.11 points, or 0.2%, to 7,164.68
New Zealand’s NZX index slid 22.07 points, or 0.6%, to 3,463.70
Australia’s ASX Index stumbled 7.57 points, or 0.2%, to 4,199.12
