Stocks in Japan kept their winning streak rolling to four straight session on Friday, but trading was thin as investors prepared for a long weekend.
The Nikkei 225 acquired 20 points, or 0.1%, to 19,879.81, still another fresh three-month peak, after Thursday’s hoist of more than 200 points.
For the week, Nikkei gained 1.4%, posting the fifth straight week of gains. Markets in Japan will be closed for a national holiday on Monday.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng jumped 254.5 points, or 1.1%, to 22,754.72, after climbing more than 300 points Thursday. For the week, Hang Seng jumped 1.6%.
Among Hong Kong’s most actively traded stocks, China Environmental Energy, down 14.7%, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., up 3.6% and Jun Yang Financial Holdings down 2.4%.
Japan’s Ministry of Finance announced on Friday it will be issuing 2.5 trillion yen ($20 million U.S.) of two-year government bonds.
Most export-oriented stocks, however, closed down. Blue-chip companies Sony and Toyota closed near 0.5% lower while Canon, Toshiba, and Mitsubishi Electric ended in positive territory.
Automakers Nissan, Toyota, Honda, and Mazda also closed lower.
Electronics manufacturer Sharp gave away some of the strong gains in the morning session to close six points, or 4.8%, higher, after the company projected strong profits for its TV operations in 2016.
CHINA
The CSI 300 in Shanghai lopped off 0.59 points to 3,774.38,
Investors, still concerned about China's economy, are waiting for fresh directional cues as a two-month rebound in mainland shares appears to be losing steam, a wave that has added 10% to stock prices in China
Banks, financial services and investment corporations and closed in the red on news that the People's Bank of China will further slash interest rates on the loans it gives to banks. The Chinese yuan strengthened on the back of this news, rising 0.02% to trade at 6.3815 against the U.S. dollar.
Major banks such as ICBC, Agriculture Bank, Bank of China, CCB and Bank of Commerce all saw losses of just under 1% as investors remained cautious about further intervention from Beijing.
Energy players such as Sinopec were down 0.6%, while PetroChina slumped 0.7% on the back of low oil prices while China Oilfield Services shares gained 0.3%in the afternoon.
In other markets
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index dropped 1.92 points, or 0.1%, to 2,917.91
The Kospi index in Korea inched up 0.95 points to 1,989.86
Taiwan’s Taiex index slipped 11.75 points, or 0.1%, to 8,465.45
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 added 13.27 points, or 0.2%, to 6,008.52
The ASX 200 moved up 13.58 points, or 0.3%, to 5,256.15
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