Hang Seng falls 120 pts amid contagion worries, Fed outlook
Major stock markets in Asia-Pacific traded mostly lower Friday after the publication of the latest batch of economic data in the region. Earlier, it was known that inflation in Japan stood at 3.3% on an annual basis in February, as private sector activity accelerated to its fastest rate in nine months, growing by 0.8 points to 51.9 in March.
Japan's Nikkei 225 went down by 0.13%, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.19% at the close of their trading sessions. South Korea's Kospi decreased by 0.39% at 7:21 am CET.
At 7:22 am CET, the Shenzhen Composite improved by 0.19%, while the Shanghai Composite declined by 0.62%. On the flip side, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.58% or 118 points as HSBC and Alibaba fell amid contagion warnings in the lenders' sector and the latest US Fed outlook.
Finally, the dollar went down by 0.42% compared to the Japanese yen at 7:21 am CET, trading for ¥130.2865.