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Singapore’s Marina Bay waterfront.
Nicky Loh | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets were lower Friday as investors look to inflation data out of Japan and Singapore, as well as flash estimates from the au Jibun bank on Japan’s manufacturing and services activity.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slid nearly 2%, leading losses in the region as it comes back from a public holiday, dragged by health-care and tech stocks. Mainland Chinese markets are closed for a public holiday Friday.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 pared some losses, but still fell 1.45% to 32,781.54, ending an eight-day run above the 33,000 mark. The Topix also fell 1.38%, mainly due to industrials and closed at 2,264.73.
Japan’s core inflation rate in May eased slightly to 3.2% year-on-year, lower than April’s 3.4% but still above the BOJ’s 2% target. The May core inflation rate was slightly above the 3.1% expected by economists polled by Reuters.
South Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.91% to close at 2,570.10 after a slight rebound on Thursday, with the Kosdaq also slipping 0.18% and ending the day at 874.94.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 1.34% and closed at 7,099.2, marking a third straight day of losses. The decline follows its largest one-day fall in June on Thursday.
Overnight in the U.S., both the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 snapped a three-day losing streak and finished higher, with the Nasdaq up by 0.95% and the S&P 0.37% higher. In contrast, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell slightly, extending its losing streak to four days.
— CNBC’s Sarah Min and Yun Li contributed to this report
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