Asian stocks stumble on US-China trade worries

Asian markets were mostly lower on Friday as caution set in ahead of US-China trade talks in Beijing next week.

The Shanghai Composite index gave up 0.8 per cent to 3,077.56 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.5 per cent to 28,913.55. The Kospi in South Korea was flat at 2,184.94.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index, reopening after a market holiday, dropped 0.2 per cent to 21,453.10 after a report that inflation slowed slightly in February.

The core consumer price index rose 0.7 per cent from a year earlier, compared with January’s 0.8 per cent gain, reports AP.

Australia’s S&P ASX 200 gained 0.6 per cent to 6,201.60. Shares fell in Taiwan and most of Southeast Asia.

The broad S&P 500 index rebounded 1.1 per cent to 2,854.88 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.8 per cent higher to 25,962.51.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite jumped 1.4 per cent to 7,838.96. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks advanced 1.2 per cent to 1,562.41.

In other trading, benchmark US crude oil lost 10 cents to $59.88 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It dropped 25 cents to $59.98 per barrel on Thursday.

The contract closed above $60 per barrel on Wednesday for the first time since November.

Brent crude shed 9 cents to $67.69 per barrel on Friday. It gave up 64 cents to $67.77 per barrel in London.

The dollar fell to 110.77 yen from 110.81 yen late Thursday. The euro rose to $1.1376 from $1.1374.