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Asian stocks mixed ahead of US jobs; Shanghai Comp rallies 2%
Asian equities traded mixed on Friday, as investors turned their attention to the release of the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report which will likely determine the timing of a Federal Reserve rate hike.
Meanwhile, mainland stocks surged on hopes that authorities may step in soon with fresh support measures.
Overnight, U.S. stocks ended sharply lower, with the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQ: .IXIC) down 1.6 percent, as investors weighed declines in oil ahead of Friday's key employment report. Weak report cards from media companies such as Viacom (NASDAQ: VIAB), 21st Century Fox (NASDAQ: FOXA) andDisney (NYSE: DIS) brought down the Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow Jones Global Indexes: .DJI) and S&P 500 (CME:Index and Options Market: .INX), which closed down 0.7 and 0.8 percent, respectively.
Mainland indices rise
China's Shanghai Composite index widened gains to slightly more than 2 percent in the afternoon session, spurred by reports that trillions of yuan funds will likely re-enter the equity market from a bunch of China funds.
Close to 300 China funds that oversee more than 1 trillion yuan are sitting on the sidelines with "ammunition" to enter the stock markets at anytime, Reuters reported citing Chinese state media Shanghai Securities News on Friday.
Among China's other indexes, the blue-chip CSI300 index tacked on 1.8 percent, while the smaller Shenzhen Composite charged 2.5 percent.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index tracked the strength in its mainland peers to rise 1 percent, with the market's focus falling on the city's first major initial public offering (IPO) since China's equity market turmoil in June.
China Railway Signal & Communication Corp. (CRSC) inched up 0.1 percent to trade around 6.310 Hong Kong dollars , up slightly from the HK$6.30 IPO price.
ASX plunges 2.2%
Australia's S&P ASX 200 (ASX: .AXJO) index crashed to its lowest level since July 14, a day after losing 1.1 percent on the back of heavy selling in the banks and energy counters.
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group plummeted 6.2 percent, as investors reacted to Thursday's news of raising $2.2 billion through a share placement . Westpac, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and National Australia Bank extended losses into a second straight session, slumping between 1.2 and 2.2 percent, as investors anticipated they will be required to do the same.
Gold producers also tumbled, with Newcrest Mining (ASX: NCM-AU) and Evolution Mining (ASX: EVN-AU) losing more than 2 percent each, as gold remained on track to stretch its weekly losses to a seventh week .
Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO-AU) outperformed the bourse, up 0.4 percent following a modest rise of 0.2 percent in its London-listed shares after announcing a 43 percent slide in first-half underlying profit to $2.9 billion, beating consensus of $2.4 billion.
"Investors will be buoyed by further reductions to capital investments and an increase to their expenditure cutting target for this year from $750 million to $1 billion. Underlying earnings [also] beat consensus... These are all bullish signals for the stock," IG market strategist Angus Nicholson wrote in a note early Friday.
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) softened its economic outlook for 2016 , according to its 72-page quarterly report.
Nikkei adds 0.3%
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 (CBOE: .NKXQ) index turned positive in the afternoon trading session, helped by a huge rally in the shares of SoftBank (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 9984.T-JP).
The telecommunications and internet giant rallied 4.4 percent after announcing a near $1 billion share buyback and a higher quarterly profit as loss-making Sprint (NYSE: S) fared better than expected.
Sumitomo Osaka Cement Co (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 5232.T-JP). got a boost from strong quarterly earnings, up 2.7 percent, while Nikon (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 7731.T-JP) climbed 4.7 percent after the camera and imaging firm raised its operating profit guidance for the financial year ending March 2016.
Among losers, Olympus (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 7733.T-JP), Konica Minolta (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 4902.T-JP) and Rakuten (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 4755.T-JP)fell between 4.2 and 9.8 percent, following weak quarterly report cards. Takata Corp (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 7312.T-JP) traded flat, erasing earlier gains sparked by news that the air bag manufacturer, who is caught in the middle of global recall, swung to a net profit in the first quarter.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) kept its massive monetary stimulus program steady at the end of its monthly two-day policy meeting, and maintained its upbeat assessment of the economy on Friday. The decision was largely in line with expectations thus markets showed little reaction following the announcement.
Kospi sheds 0.2%
South Korea's Kospi index nursed modest losses in rangebound trade.
Samsung C&T (Korea Stock Exchange: 83-KR) and Cheil Industries tumbled more than 3 percent each, after the former said it received 670 million won (Exchange: KRW=) worth of stock buyback requests from shareholders who opposed the all-stock takeover offer. The amount was well short of 1.5 trillion won - set by both firms in May as the level at which they would scrap the deal.
Affiliates of family-ruled conglomerate Lotte Group remain in focus amid crises such as a government investigation into allegations of bribery and tax evasion, as well as a family feud that has raised concerns of a leadership vacuum. Lotte Chemical lost 1 percent, while Lotte Insurance changed course to advance 1 percent. Lotte Shopping (Korea Stock Exchange: 2353-KR) narrowed gains to 0.5 percent ahead of its quarterly report card due later in the day.
The heaviest-weighted stock Samsung Electronics (Korea Stock Exchange: 593-KR) moved up 1.5 percent thus helping to limit the index's losses.
Meanwhile, markets in Singapore are closed for an extended weekend through Monday, as the Southeast Asian city-state gears up to celebrate its 50th year of independence.
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