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Asian stocks were mostly lower Friday after North Korea fired off another missile over Japan, ratcheting up geopolitical tensions and denting investor sentiment.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index edged up 0.1 per cent to 19,835.30 but South Korea's Kospi lost 0.4 per cent to 2,369.32. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.7 per cent to 27,571.42.
The Shanghai Composite in mainland China shed 0.6 per cent to 3,353.11. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 sank 0.6 per cent to 5,704.90.
US stocks ended mostly lower. The S&P 500 index slid 0.1 per cent to 2,495.62. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.2 per cent to 22,203.48. The Nasdaq composite slumped 0.5 per cent to 6,429.08.
Oil was hovering near its seven-week high. Benchmark US crude futures slipped 23 cents to $49.67 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The contract rose 59 cents, or 1.2 per cent, to settle at $49.89 a barrel Thursday, the highest closing price since the end of July.
Brent crude, used to price international oils, shed 35 cents to $55.12 barrel in London.
The dollar slid to 110.19 yen from 110.26 yen. The euro weakened to $1.1906 from $1.1919, according to AP.