Friday saw most of the Asian stock markets in an upward trend, despite a largely negative trend shown on Wall Street, as traders were cautious and refrained from taking long positions, anticipating key data from the U.S. Traders continued to purchase stocks at a lower price following the recent sell-off, resulting in a mixed closure for the Asian markets on Thursday.
On the other hand, the Australian stock market showed a significant decline in post-holiday trading, influenced by negative cues from Wall Street. The primary Australian index, S&P/ASX 200, dropped below the 7,600 mark due to weak performances from most sectors, especially iron ore and technology stocks. The leading miners, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals, saw mixed results, and the oil stocks fell, while Beach energy saw a slight increase.
The major technology stocks were on a downward trend, with WiseTech Global and Afterpay owner Block showing significant decreases in their value. The four major Australian banks also experienced a decline, while gold mining stocks posted gains.
The shares of Newmont surged over 14% due to news of a potential asset sale worth USD 360 million to Lundin Gold, which is part of Newmont's strategy to optimize its portfolio of gold mines after the acquisition of Newcrest.
On the currency front, the Australian dollar traded at $0.652 on Friday.
The Japanese market showed significant gains on Friday, despite negative cues from Wall Street. The leading Nikkei 225 moved well above the 37,700 level as traders remained watchful ahead of the Bank of Japan's monetary policy decision.
Major Japanese exporters like Mitsubishi Electric and Sony showed slight decreases, while Canon significantly increased its value. On the other hand, the banking sector saw moderate gains, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial on the rise.
Interestingly, consumer prices in the Tokyo region of Japan increased by 1.8 percent in April, lower than the anticipated 2.6 percent annual increase.
The Bank of Japan is expected to keep its benchmark lending rate steady at 0.1 percent after its monetary policy meeting on Friday.
On the currency market, the U.S dollar traded higher in the 155 yen-range on Friday.
In other parts of Asia, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan have seen an increase varying between 1.1 and 1.7 percent each, while China, Singapore, and Malaysia observed a rise ranging from 0.1 to 0.6 percent each. In contrast, New Zealand and Indonesia have both experienced a decrease, falling 0.8 and 0.6 percent respectively.
Regarding Wall Street, even though the stocks have made some recoveries during Thursday's trading session, they remained predominantly lower following a substantial drop earlier in the session. The primary scales ended the day with net negative results after a narrowly mixed trading session on Wednesday.
Specifically, the Dow was down 375.12 points or 1.0 percent at 38,085.80, following a dip of more than 700 points in early trading. Similarly, the Nasdaq dropped 100.99 points or 0.6 percent to 15,611.76, and the S&P 500 fell 23.21 points or 0.5 percent to end up at 5,048.42.
In contrast, the major European markets concluded the day on a mixed note. The UK's FTSE 100 Index went up by 0.5 percent, even as the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.9 percent, and the German DAX Index declined by 1.0 percent.
Finally, crude oil prices on Thursday have bounced back from recent losses despite data indicating slower than anticipated US GDP growth for the first quarter. The West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended up higher by $0.76 or approximately 0.92% at $83.57 per barrel.
