SINGAPORE – Asia Pacific stocks fell mainly in Friday trading as China left its policy rate unchanged.
Mainland stocks fell as the Shanghai Composite fell about 1% and the Shenzhen stake fell 1.013%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.18%.
China’s one-year policy rate (LPR) and five-year LPR were both left unchanged on Friday at 3.85% and 4.65%, respectively. According to Reuters, this was in line with the expectations of the majority of traders and analysts in a quick poll.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 0.74% in morning trading while the Topix index lost 0.5%.
Japanese automaker stocks continued to decline on Friday, with Toyota Motor falling 2.14% during the month
Nissan Motor lost 5.69% and Honda Motor lost 3.63%.
That came after Toyota announced Thursday that it would cut global production for September by 40% from its previous plan, Reuters reported. Toyota’s shares plunged more than 4% Thursday after the Nikkei first reported the company’s plan.
Elsewhere, the South Korean Kospi lost 0.84% while the S & P / ASX 200 in Australia climbed 0.2%.
MSCI’s broadest index for Asia Pacific stocks outside of Japan was trading 0.73% lower.
CNBC Pro’s Stock Picks and Investment Trends:
Overnight in the States, the S&P 500 was up 0.13% to 4,405.80 while the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.11% to 14,541.79. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lagged, shedding 66.57 points to 34,894.12.
Currencies
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback versus a basket of its competitors, hit 93.521 after rising below 93 earlier this week.
The Japanese yen was trading at 109.76 per dollar, up against the greenback above 110 yesterday. The Australian dollar changed hands at $ 0.7141 after falling above $ 0.728 earlier in the week.
