SINGAPORE — Stocks in Asia-Pacific were mixed in Friday trade, with the price of bitcoin tumbling below $50,000.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan fell 0.75% in afternoon trade while the Topix index shed 0.55%. Earlier, the Nikkei 225 had fallen more than 1%. South Korea’s Kospi was slightly lower.
Mainland Chinese stocks nudged higher, with the Shanghai composite rising slightly while the Shenzhen component gained 0.747%.
Shares in Australia edged lower as the S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.2%.
Over in India, the Nifty 50 fell 0.4% while the BSE Sensex slipped 0.47%. Investors continued to monitor the coronavirus situation in India, on Friday, after more than 310,000 new daily infections were registered on Thursday.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.3%.
Meanwhile, bitcoin prices dropped below the $50,000 level. As of 12:11 a.m. ET Friday, the price of bitcoin sat at $49,836.20, according to data from Coin Metrics.
Biden reportedly seeks capital gains tax hike
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 321.41 points to close at 33,815.90. The S&P 500 declined 0.92% to finish its trading day at 4,134.98 while the Nasdaq Composite closed 0.94% lower at 13,818.41.
The losses stateside came after reports from multiple outlets, including Bloomberg News and The New York Times, that U.S. President Joe Biden is seeking an increase in the tax on capital gains to 39.6% from 20% for Americans earnings more than $1 million,
Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 91.206 following an earlier high of 91.298.
The Japanese yen traded at 107.92 per dollar, still stronger than levels above 108.4 against the greenback seen earlier this week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7733, following its slip yesterday from around $0.776.
Oil prices were higher in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures up 0.57% to $65.77 per barrel. U.S. crude futures advanced 0.72% to $61.87 per barrel.
Source: CNBC