SINGAPORE — Stocks in Asia-Pacific were mixed in Friday trade, with South Korea’s Kospi leading losses among the region’s major markets.
In afternoon trade, the Kospi fell 2.16%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 1.51% while the Topix index also slipped 1.24%
Mainland Chinese stocks, on the other hand, were higher by the afternoon: The Shanghai composite gained 0.23% while the Shenzhen component advanced 0.505%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.35%.
The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia was down 0.73%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares declined 0.18%.
The moves in the region came as U.S. stock futures declined. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down about 300 points.
Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 0.98% to close at 3,787.38 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 300.19 points to finish its trading day at 30,603.36. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.5% to close at 13,337.16.
On the coronavirus front, biotech firm Novavax said that its vaccine was more than 89% effective in protecting against Covid-19.
A study found that the vaccine appeared to be 85.6% effective against the U.K. variant. A separate phase two study in South Africa, however, showed the vaccine isn’t nearly as effective against a new strain ravaging that country. Shares of the company were up more than 23% in after-hours trading.
Globally, the coronavirus has infected more than 101.25 million people while at least 2.18 million lives have been taken, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 90.75 after rising from levels below 90.3 earlier in the week.
The Japanese yen traded at 104.50 per dollar, having weakened from levels below 104 against the greenback earlier in the trading week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.764 after falling below $0.762 yesterday.
Oil prices dipped in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures below the flatline, trading at $55.52 per barrel. U.S. crude futures dipped 0.32% to $52.17 per barrel.
— CNBC’s Berkeley Lovelace Jr. contributed to this report.
Source: CNBC