Asian shares fell for a third straight session on Friday as jitters over next week’s U.S. presidential election and a shaky global economic outlook enveloped markets.
Asian Shares
- E-Mini futures for S&P500 ESc1 skidded 1.5%, a signal Wall Street would open in the red later in the day.
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MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside of Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was last down 0.1%, on track to the end the week 1.1% lower after four straight weeks of gains.
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Australia’s ASX 200 .AXJO fell 0.5% and New Zealand’s benchmark index faltered nearly 1%.
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Japan’s Nikkei .N225 slipped 0.85% and was set for its biggest weekly loss in more than two months.
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Chinese shares, which had started marginally higher, eased too with the blue-chip index .CSI300 off 0.1%.
Currency
- The dollar was weaker against the Japanese yen JPY= at 104.34 while the risk-sensitive Australian dollar AUD=D3 rose 0.2% to $0.7043.
- The announcement sent the euro EUR= sliding to a four-week low of $0.1648 to be last at $1.1679.
Commodities
- In commodities, oil picked up after hitting a five-month low on Thursday, with Brent crude futures LCOc1 up 15 cents at $37.80 a barrel and U.S. crude CLC1 adding 5 cents at $36.22.
- Gold rose, with spot prices climbing 0.4% to $1,874.06 an ounce.