Stocks in Asia-Pacific were mostly higher in Friday trade as the Pentagon added more Chinese firms to a blacklist of alleged Chinese military companies.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 lost 58.13 points, or 0.2%, to close Friday at 26,751.24. The Japanese yen traded at 103.91 per U.S. dollar after strengthening sharply yesterday from levels above 104 against the greenback.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index gained 107.42 points, or 0.4%, to 26,835.92.
China’s largest chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp, and oil producer CNOOC were among firms added to the blacklist. Hong Kong-listed shares of SMIC plunged 5.4% on Friday after an earlier suspension. CNOOC, or China National Offshore Oil Corp., also saw its Hong Kong-listed stock fall 3.9%.
In other corporate developments, Hong Kong-listed shares of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com rose 2.41% on Friday. JD Logistics is reportedly seeking bank pitches for a Hong Kong IPO of up to $3 billion.
The development came just days after JD.com’s digital health-care unit, JD Health, raised $3.5 billion in a Hong Kong IPO. Shares of JD Health are expected to begin trading on Tuesday.
Investors were also monitoring vaccine developments after a report said Pfizer expects to ship half the Covid-19 vaccine doses it originally planned for this year due to supply chain issues.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Pfizer had originally planned to ship 100 million doses this year, but some early batches of raw materials needed for the vaccine failed to meet standards. The U.S. drug maker repeatedly said publicly that it planned to ship 50 million vaccine doses this year and up to 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021. Still, the Journal report spurred a late-day sell-off in U.S. markets.
Australia’s retail turnover rose 1.4% month-on-month in October on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to figures from the country’s Bureau of Statistics.
The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7431, having risen from levels below $0.74 earlier in the trading week.
In other markets
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 regained 8.86 points, or 0.2%, to 5,065.92.
In Korea, the Kospi index added 35.23 points, or 1.3%, to 2,731.45.
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index screamed ahead 155.35 points, or 1.1%, to 14,132.44.
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index moved higher 17.55 points, or 0.6%, to 2,839.89.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 dumped 17.53 points, or 0.1%, to 12,631.38.
In Australia, the ASX 200 gained 18.83 points, or 0.3%, to 6,634.10.
