Asia-Pacific markets mostly fell on Friday as investors awaited U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s comments at the Jackson Hole gathering of global central bankers.
The Nikkei 225 index charged ahead 153.26 points, or 0.4%, to 38,364.27.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index dropped 28.90 points, or 0.2%, to 17,612.10.
In the past, Powell has outlined broad policy initiatives and provided clues about the U.S. policy path at Jackson Hole.
In Asia, data from Japan showed the country’s headline inflation at 2.8% in July, unchanged from the previous month.
Core inflation, which strips out prices of fresh food, stood at 2.7%, in line with expectations from economists polled by Reuters and higher than June’s figure of 2.6%.
However, the so called “core-core” inflation rate, which strips out prices of both fresh food and energy and is tracked by the Bank of Japan, fell to 1.9% in July from 2.2% in June.
This is the lowest the “core-core” inflation rate has reached since September 2022.
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.
Australian indexes dipped below the flatline Friday, ending a 10-day winning streak.
CHINA
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 recovered 14.05 points, or 0.4%, to 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.
In other markets
In Taiwan, the Taiex index regained 9.22 points to 22,158.05.
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index reclaimed 14.41 points, or 0.4%, to 3,387.99.
In Korea, the Kospi index let go of 5.98 points, or 0.2%, to 2,701.69.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 gained 60.64 points, or 0.5%, to 12,529.99.
In Australia, the ASX 200 skimmed off 3.05 points to 8,023.92.