Asian equities mostly higher, but Shanghai Comp bucks trend

Asian equities mostly higher, but Shanghai Comp bucks trend

Asian equities mostly edged up on Friday, as investors took heart from less volatile share moves in the mainland.

However, gains were limited as the Shanghai Composite index finished in negative territory for the second straight session and on the back of negative factors such as an uninspiring lead from the U.S. overnight, falling commodity prices, and weak data from Japan.

Wall Street ended narrowly mixed on Thursday, as investors digested ho-hum earnings and U.S. second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) that came in slightly below expectations. The blue-chip Dow (Dow Jones Global Indexes: .DJI) and the S&P 500 (CME:Index and Options Market: .INX) ended near the flatline, while the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQ: .IXIC) added 0.3 percent.

In the commodity space, U.S. crude futures slipped for a second session to trade around $48 a barrel in early Asian trad, as mixed economic data from the U.S. overnight weighed on sentiment, although a weaker dollar put a floor under prices. Spot gold hovered near five-and-a-half-year lows early on Friday and is on course for a sixth straight weekly fall.

Shanghai Comp loses 1.1%

China's Shanghai Composite index widened losses in late-afternoon trade, ending down 1.1 percent for the day and 13.4 percent for the month. However, trading was relatively calm compared to the volatility in the previous sessions.

Chinese securities regulator is investigating the impact of automated trading on the market and had restricted 24 stock trading accounts for suspected irregularities, according to Reuters.

Among losers, heavyweight component PetroChina (Shanghai Stock Exchange: 1857-SZ) closed down 5.3 percent, while Sinopec (Shanghai Stock Exchange: 688-SZ) lost 2.6 percent. Securities firm also traded on the back foot, with Haitong Securities (Shanghai Stock Exchange: 837-SZ) and Citic Securities (Shanghai Stock Exchange: 30-SZ) sagging 0.5 and 0.4 percent, respectively.

Among China's other indexes, the CSI300 index saw muted moves on Friday to end near the flatline, while the smaller Shenzhen Composite dropped 0.8 percent.

Nikkei adds 0.3%

Japan's Nikkei 225 (Nihon Kenzai Shinbun: .N225) index eked out marginal gains, as losses in heavyweight components and mixed economic data released before the market open capped advances. For July, the Tokyo bourse outperformed Asian peers with a rise of 1.4 percent.

Japan's core consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.1 percent on-year in June , a tad above the 0.0 percent forecast in a Reuters poll. But household spending unexpectedly fell 2.0 percent on-year in June, sharply underperforming expectations for a 1.7 percent rise from a Reuters poll. The seasonally adjusted jobless rate rose to 3.4 percent in June, slightly above the 3.3 percent forecast in a Reuters poll.

Fanuc (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 6954.T-JP) trimmed losses to end down 0.3 percent, remaining under selling pressure since the company issued a cut in profit forecast on Wednesday. SoftBank (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 9984.T-JP) slipped 0.2 percent, while Fast Retailing (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 9983.T-JP) receded nearly 1 percent.

Among the companies releasing corporate earnings, Sony (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 6758.T-JP) tumbled 1.5 percent despite the company reporting a 39 percent rise in quarterly operating profit after the market close on Thursday.

By contrast, shares of Fujifilm Holdings (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 4901.T-JP) surged 7.9 percent as investors cheered news of a share buyback.

ASX gains 0.5%

Australia's S&P ASX 200 (ASX: .AXJO) index sealed a three-day winning streak to end at a more than one-week high, led by gains in the financial sector. During the month, the Sydney bourse gained 4.4 percent.

Among the big four lenders, Australia and New Zealand Banking (ASX: ANZ-AU) gained 0.7 percent, while National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA-AU) closed up 0.6 percent each.

Miners and gold producers were among the hardest hit; Evolution Mining (ASX: EVN-AU) and Alacer Gold (Toronto Stock Exchange: ASR-CA) tanked 4.3 and 6.4 percent, respectively, while Fortescue Metals (ASX: FMG-AU) and BHP Billiton (London Stock Exchange: BLT-GB) eased 2.1 and 0.2 percent, respectively.

Kospi gains 0.6%

South Korea's Kospi index hurled itself back above the flatline late Friday, recouping most of Thursday's near 1 percent plunge but chalking up a loss of 2.1 percent for the month of July.

Dismal earnings weighed on the bourse earlier in the session. Samsung Electronics (Korea Stock Exchange: 593-KR) plunged 2.5 percent, adding on to a 3.8 percent slump in the previous session as investors dumped shares after the company announced a poor outlook for the third quarter.

Samsung SDI Co. (Korea Stock Exchange: 640-KR) slid 9.3 percent after posting worse-than-expected second-quarter profit and offered a downbeat outlook for the coming quarters.

On the domestic data front, industrial output rose by a seasonally adjusted 2.3 percent in June, data showed on Friday, reversing three straight months of decline and far exceeding expectations.

Rest of Asia

Taiwanese shares cut losses to end up 0.2 percent, recovering from data which showed the economy slowing more sharply than expected in the June quarter. Gross domestic product (GDP) grew 0.64 percent on-year, marking a three-year low and coming in way below Reuters' forecast of 2.67 percent.

Meanwhile in Singapore, Noble Group (Singapore Exchange: NOBG-SG) shares extended losses to sink 15.4 percent to its lowest level since November 2008, after the Singapore Exchange (SGX) issued a "Trade with Caution" advisory on the company's shares on Thursday.

On the earnings front, Singapore's Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (Singapore Exchange: OCBC-SG) (OCBC) beat expectations with a jump to record quarterly profit, but smaller rival United Overseas Bank (Singapore Exchange: UOBH-SG) (UOB) saw income decline to its weakest in seven quarters. Shares of both lenders dropped 0.7 and 2.9 percent, respectively, dragging down the broader Straits Times (Singapore Exchange: .FTSTI) index by 1.5 percent.



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