Asia Lower to End Week

Shares in Asia-Pacific were almost uniformly lower Friday as investors watched bond yields as well as technology stocks in the region.

The Nikkei 225 lost 65.79 points, or 0.2%, to 28,864.32.

Technology stocks in Asia were mostly lower on Friday.

Shares of Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group were fractionally higher while South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix declined 1.41%.

The Japanese yen traded at 108.36 per U.S. dollar, weaker than levels below 107.4 against the greenback seen yesterday.

The 10-year Japanese government bond’s yield declined to 0.082%.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng tumbled 138.5 points, or 0.5%, to 29,098.29.

Hong Kong-listed shares of Chinese tech firms slipped: Tencent shed 1.59% while Xiaomi fell 3.74% and Meituan declined 0.88%.

Bond yields in Asia-Pacific were also lower, the yield on the Australian 10-year bond slipped to 1.806%.

The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7681 U.S., off levels around $0.783 seen earlier in the week.

CHINA

In China, the CSI 300 ditched 17.91 points, or 0.3%, to 5,262.80.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang announced the world’s second-largest economy would target growth of over 6% for 2021.

In other markets

In Taiwan, the Taiex slid 51.18 points, or 0.3%, to 15,855.23.

In Korea, the Kospi index were 17.23 points, or 0.6%, to 3,026.26.

In Singapore, the Straits Times index backed off 0.93 points to 3,013.85

In New Zealand, the NZX 50 subtracted 44.25 points, or 0.4%, to 12,180.25.

In Australia, the ASX 200 swooned 49.86 points, or 0.7%, to 6,710.85.