Asian shares mixed in thin trading

Asian shares were mixed in thin trading on Friday after a discouraging day on Wall Street. News reports highlighting obstacles in the way of a China-US trade deal also weighed on sentiment.

The Kospi in South Korea dropped 0.6 per cent to 2,199.58 while Australia’s S&P ASX 200 was 0.1 per cent higher at 6,345.80. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.2 per cent to 29,875.50.

Stocks rose in Taiwan but fell in Singapore and Indonesia. Markets in Japan and mainland China were closed, reports AP.

The broad S&P 500 index fell 0.2 per cent to 2,917.52 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.5 per cent to 26,307.79.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite was down 0.2 per cent at 8,036.77. The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks edged 0.4 per cent higher to 1,582.65.

Benchmark US crude shed 8 cents to $61.73 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It sank $1.79 to settle at $61.81 per barrel on Thursday.

Brent crude, the international standard, fell 23 cents to $70.52 per barrel. It gave up $1.43 to close at $70.75 per barrel in the previous session.

The dollar eased to 111.49 Japanese yen from 111.51 yen late Thursday. The euro fell to $1.1173 from $1.1176.