SINGAPORE — Stocks in Asia-Pacific were mixed in Friday trade after the Pentagon added more Chinese firms to a blacklist of alleged Chinese military companies.
Mainland Chinese stocks fell, with the Shanghai composite shed 0.35% while the Shenzhen component sat below the flatline. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was also down 0.16%.
Chinas largest chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp and oil producer CNOOC were among firms added to the blacklist. Trading in the Hong Kong-listed shares of SMIC was halted on the back of that news, with the stock last down more than 2% after 3 minutes of trading. CNOOC, or China National Offshore Oil Corp., also saw its Hong Kong-listed stock fall about 2.2%.
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea's Kospi led gains among the region's major markets and jumped 1.36%.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.33% while the Topix was 0.16% lower.
Meanwhile, shares in Australia edged higher, as the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.41%. Australia's retail turnover rose 1.4% month-on-month in October on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to figures from the country's Bureau of Statistics.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.69%.
In other corporate developments, Hong Kong-listed shares of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com rose more than 3% by the afternoon. Reuters reported, citing sources, JD Logistics is seeking bank pitches for a Hong Kong IPO of up to $3 billion.
The development came just days after JD.com's digital health-care unit, JD Health, raised $3.5 billion in a Hong Kong IPO. Shares of JD Health are expected to begin trading on Tuesday.
Looking ahead, the Reserve Bank of India is also expected to announce its interest rate decision on Friday.
Vaccine watch
Investors were also monitoring vaccine developments after a report said Pfizer expects to ship half the Covid-19 vaccine doses it originally planned for this year due to supply chain issues.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Pfizer had originally planned to ship 100 million doses this year, but some early batches of raw materials needed for the vaccine failed to meet standards. The U.S. drugmaker repeatedly said publicly that it planned to ship 50 million vaccine doses this year and up to 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021. Still, the Journal report spurred a late-day sell-off in U.S. markets.
Oil prices jump
Oil prices were higher in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures up 1.81% to $49.59 per barrel. U.S. crude futures also gained 1.53% to $46.34 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 90.684 following its decline earlier this week from levels above 91.5.
The Japanese yen traded at 103.85 per dollar after strengthening sharply yesterday from levels above 104 against the greenback. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7424, having risen from levels below $0.74 earlier in the trading week.
Here's a look at what's on tap:
- India: Reserve Bank of India's interest rate decision
— CNBC's Berkeley Lovelace Jr. contributed to this report.
"asia" - Google News
December 04, 2020 at 07:13AM
https://ift.tt/3mzGgSZ
Asia-Pacific stocks trade mixed amid Covid vaccine concerns; SMIC shares in Hong Kong suspended - CNBC
"asia" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2YpEquI
https://ift.tt/2WkdbyX
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Asia-Pacific stocks trade mixed amid Covid vaccine concerns; SMIC shares in Hong Kong suspended - CNBC"
Post a Comment