Major Asian stock markets ended down Friday, erasing early gains despite a positive finish from Wall Street overnight.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell another 93.84 points, or 0.5%, to 17,147.11. In total, the Nikkei has lost 9.91 percent since the last trading day of 2015.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong subtracted 296.64 points, or 1.5%, to 19,520.77
Energy plays were very much in evidence. In Japan, Inpex finished 0.5% lower, after gaining as much as 2.2% in morning trade. Japan Petroleum was down 0.1%.
Shares in Santos closed up 0.4%, after rising as much as 3% in early trade; Woodside Petroleum finished 0.5% higher, while Oil Search closed 1.4% up.
In Japan, electronics maker Sharp closed up 14.7% after theYomiuri daily reported that Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry, better known as Foxconn, would offer to invest 700 billion yen ($5.9 billion U.S.) in the company, raising the cap from 500 billion yen offered previously. Shares were up as much as 18% in late-morning trade.
Hon Hai shares traded down 0.9%.
Major Japanese exporters pared early gains to finish down, with Sony 1.5% lower and Nissan down 1.91 percent. The dollar-yen pair fell 0.3% to 117.68 after climbing as high as 118.26 earlier. A stronger yen is usually considered negative for Japan's exporters as it trims earnings when translated back into the home currency.
Resources producers in Australia closed mixed, with shares of Rio Tintoup 1.7%, BHP Billiton rising 1.3% and Fortescue adding 1%. Gold stocks finished mostly down, with Alacer Gold shedding 3.9% and Newcrest losing 2.5%
Financials slipped in afternoon trade, with Australia's so-called Big Four banks - ANZ, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, NAB and Westpac - closing down as much as 0.7%.
South Korea's SK Hynix erased gains to end down 3.9%. Its shares were up as much as 0.7% in early trade, after the memory chip maker announced yesterday it planned at least 6 trillion won ($5 billion U.S.) in capital expenditure in 2016 to add capacity and improve production technology, according to reports.
CHINA
The CSI 300 Index slid 102.84 points, or 3.2%, to 3,118.73. Other markets on the mainland have lost 20% since their late December highs.
Chinese mainland oil plays were negative, with shares of China Oilfield losing as much as 4.8% at market close.
Data released before the markets opened revealed that Chinese banks gave 597.8 billion yuan ($90.76 billion U.S.) in new loans for December, notably lower than the 708.9 billion loaned out in November, sparking renewed concerns over the economy's health.
But, offering some stability to the Chinese market, the People's Bank of China set the yuan mid-point fix at 6.5637 against the U.S. dollar, comparatively flat in relation to Thursday's fix of 6.5616. The dollar-yuan pair traded 0.05% lower at 6.5855.
In other markets
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index faded 13.81 points, or 0.5%, to 2,630.76
The Kospi in Korea retreated 21.14 points, or 1.1%, to 1,878.87
Taiwan’s Taiex index moved up 19.13 points, or 0.3%, to 7,762.01
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 regained 59.8 points, or 1%, to 6,169.09
The ASX 200 fell 16.58 points, or 0.3%, to 4,892.80
