Wall Street rose overnight as investors were expecting improvements in fourth-quarter earnings results. US industrial shares lifted the Dow and the S&P 500 to new 15-month highs after the upbeat Chinese economic data. The US dollar dropped 0.5 percent against a basket of currencies.
Asian stock markets were broadly lower Friday following the weakness in Wall Street. Chinese shares also fell on profit taking, but airline equities rose across the board on a new pricing mechanism of fuel surcharge to take effect this weekend.
Wall Street overnight extended its losses after a disappointing non-farm payrolls report in August, which raised concerns over the coming key reports on employment this week. US private sector slashed 298,000 jobs in August, a faster rate than economists' forecast.
Yesterday, the Australian share market closed higher on the back of stronger commodity prices. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index rose 49 points, or 1.29 per cent, at 3856, while the broader-based All Ordinaries index gained 49.3 points, or 1.3 per cent, to 3851.5 points.
Asian markets ended higher on Wednesday. Tokyo stocks jumped 2.7% as yen's weakness boosted the Japanese exporters. South Korea and China markets delivered a modest rise of 0.3% each. Hong Kong's Hang Seng surged 1.6%.
Asian markets ended sharply lower Friday, weighed down by the weakness in the US and European markets. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 1.9% as investors were still not comfortable with the recent falls of Japanese yen, but the slumping Korean won hurt shares in Seoul with the Kospi plummeted 3.7%. Shanghai and Hong Kong stocks gained about 1.5%. Today the Chinese shares opened slightly weaker while the Hong Kong shares were up 1.8 percent.
Tokyo stocks opened sharply lower Friday with investor sentiment hurt by Sony Corp.'s forecast of an annual operating loss as well as by a fall in U.S. shares overnight due to disappointing corporate earnings there. Yesterday the Aisan markets gained on the good lead from Wall Street. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index firmed 0.6% to 12657.99. The Shanghai Composite Index added 1%. South Korea's Kospi Composite rose 1.1% to 1116.23.
