SINGAPORE – Asia Pacific equities fell on Friday as China left its policy rate unchanged.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index tumbled 1.84% to close at 24,849.72, with Chinese technology stocks largely posting another heavy drop as regulatory uncertainty persists around the sector. Meituan’s shares were down 4.54%, while Alibaba was down 2.59% and JD.com was down 2.11%. Tencent, on the other hand, rose 1%. The Hang Seng Tech Index lost 2.46% to 5,895.06.
Mainland China stocks also closed lower as the Shanghai Composite declined 1.1% to 3,427.33 and the Shenzhen Component declined 1.614% to 14,253.53.
China’s one-year policy rate (LPR) and five-year LPR were both left unchanged on Friday at 3.85% and 4.65%, respectively. According to Reuters, this was in line with the expectations of the majority of traders and analysts in a quick poll.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.98% to close at 27,013.25 while the Topix index lost 0.87% to end the day at 1,880.68.
Japanese automaker stocks continued to decline on Friday, with Toyota Motor falling 4.09% while
Nissan Motor lost 7.25% and Honda Motor lost 4.84%.
That came after Toyota announced Thursday that it would cut global production for September by 40% from its previous plan, Reuters reported. Toyota’s shares plunged more than 4% Thursday after the Nikkei first reported the company’s plan.
Elsewhere, the South Korean Kospi lost 1.2% while the S & P / ASX 200 in Australia closed slightly lower at 7,460.90.
MSCI’s broadest index for Asia Pacific stocks outside of Japan fell 1.15%.
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Overnight in the States, the S&P 500 was up 0.13% to 4,405.80 while the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.11% to 14,541.79. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lagged, shedding 66.57 points to 34,894.12.
Currencies and oil
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback versus a basket of its competitors, hit 93.587 after rising below 93 earlier this week.
The Japanese yen was trading at 109.62 per dollar, up against the greenback above 110 yesterday. The Australian dollar changed hands at $ 0.7115 after falling above $ 0.728 earlier in the week.
Oil prices were lower in the afternoon of Asian trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures falling 0.27% to $ 66.27 a barrel. US crude oil futures were down about 0.1% to $ 63.61 a barrel.
