Asian stocks lost ground on Friday as investors worried about a broadening global economic slowdown, with sentiment not helped by the absence of any positive signs for a resolution in the U.S.-China trade row.
Asian Stocks
- MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 0.5 percent.
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.25 percent and South Korea’s KOSPI retreated 1.1 percent.
- Japan’s Nikkei tumbled about 2 percent.
Currencies
- The euro sagged under the weight of declining German bund yields. The single currency was little changed at $1.1339
- The dollar was a shade lower at 109.750 yen.
- The U.S. currency was still headed for a small weekly gain of 0.3 percent against the yen.
Commodities
- U.S. crude futures slipped 0.7 percent to $52.27 per barrel, extending losses after dropping 2.5 percent in the previous session.
- Brent crude was down 0.6 percent at $61.26 per barrel
- Oil fell as the market was hurt by concerns that global demand growth would lag in the coming year.
Bonds
- The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield extended its overnight decline to a one-week low of 2.643 percent.
- The 20-year Japanese government bond yield dropped to a 27-month trough of 0.400 percent.
- The 10-year German bund yield fell to 0.105 percent on Thursday, its lowest since November 2016 after the European Commission’s sharp cuts to growth and inflation forecasts.
