Asia-Pacific markets mostly fell on Friday as investors awaited US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's comments at the Jackson Hole gathering of global central bankers, reports CNBC.
In the past, Powell has outlined broad policy initiatives and provided clues about the US policy path at Jackson Hole.
In Asia, data from Japan showed the country's headline inflation at 2.8 per cent in July, unchanged from the previous month.
Core inflation, which strips out prices of fresh food, stood at 2.7 per cent, in line with expectations from economists polled by Reuters and higher than June's figure of 2.6 per cent.
Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.4 per cent to 38,364.27, while the Topix rose 0.5 per cent and closed at 2,684.72. Both indexes hit their highest level since Aug. 1, a day before the Asia markets meltdown.
Bank of Japan's Governor Kazuo Ueda told the country's parliament on Friday that the central bank will "remain highly vigilant" to market moves, adding that the markets remained unstable, Reuters reported.
South Korea's Kospi was down 0.22 per cent and ended at 2,701.69, and the small-cap Kosdaq fell marginally to close at 773.26. The small cap index recorded a third straight day of losses.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped just below the flatline to 8,023.9, snapping a 10-day winning streak.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 0.14 per cent as of its final hour, while mainland China's CSI 300 reversed losses to rise 0.42 per cent, closing at 3,327.19. The CSI had slipped to a fresh six-month low, before changing course to gain.
Early Friday, Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group said in a statement that it would convert its secondary listing in Hong Kong to a primary listing, making the company dual listed on both in Hong Kong and in New York.
"Our voluntary conversion to dual primary listing does not involve any issue of new shares and/or fund-raising," it added.
Asia markets mostly lower --
FE Team | Published: August 23, 2024 22:29:48
Asia markets mostly lower --
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