CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stock markets are mostly higher on Friday, shrugging off the weak cues overnight from Wall Street. The Shanghai stock exchange is trading at multi-year highs, while the Australian and Japanese markets are in negative territory.
The Australian stock market opened marginally lower, tracking the weak cues overnight from Wall Street as well as lower iron-ore prices.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is down 18.60 points or 0.31 percent to 5,928.90, while the broader All Ordinaries Index is losing 16.20 points or 0.27 percent to 5,901.40.
In the mining sector, BHP Billiton (BHP) is down 0.6 percent, Rio Tinto (RIO) is losing more than 1 percent and Fortescue Metals is declining more than 2 percent following another fall in iron-ore prices.
Gold miner Newcrest Mining is down more than 1 percent, while Evolution Mining is gaining more than 1 percent.
In the oil sector, Woodside Petroleum is up 0.4 percent, Oil Search is adding 0.6 percent and Santos is gaining more than 1 percent following the increase in crude oil prices for a sixth session overnight.
Santos reported a 10 percent decline in revenue for the first quarter to $825 million due to the fall in global oil prices, while its production rose 15 percent from the year-ago period.
Among the major banks, ANZ Banking, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac (WBK) and National Australia Bank are lower in a range of 0.3 percent to 0.5 percent. Macquarie Group is up 0.3 percent amid optimism about its full-year earnings.
Pay TV company Foxtel's chairman Robert Nason will retire in October from his role as Telstra's group executive of business support and improvement. Shares of Telstra are down 0.9 percent.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar touched a three-week high of US$0.7823 against the U.S. dollar following the release of strong local jobs data on Thursday. In early trades Friday, the local unit was trading at US$0.7803, up from Thursday's close of US$0.7737.
The Japanese market is lower as the negative cues overnight from Wall Street dampened investor sentiment and a stronger yen dragged down exporters' stocks.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 108.04 points or 0.54 percent to 19,777.73, after touching a low of 19,748.14 in early trades.
Market heavyweight Fast Retailing, the operator of Uniqlo clothing stores, is edging down 0.3 percent, while Softbank is rising more than 1 percent.
Among the major exporters, Sharp is losing more than 6 percent after gaining in the previous session following news that it reached a broad agreement on Thursday with two major lenders to receive 200 billion yen in support through a debt equity swap, while it goes ahead with its restructuring plans.
Meanwhile, Sony Corp. (SNE) is lower by more than 3 percent, Nikon Corp is down 0.2 percent and Panasonic is declining 0.6 percent.
In the tech space, Casio Computer is gaining almost 3 percent, while Advantest is losing more than 4 percent, Toshiba is down 0.4 percent, Hitachi is declining by almost 1 percent and Fanuc is lower by 1 percent.
Banking stocks are higher. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (MTU) is adding 1.6 percent, Mizuho Financial (MFG) is up 1.4 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining 1.8 percent.
In the auto sector, Honda (HMC) is up almost 2 percent and Toyota (TMC) is up 0.6 percent, while Nissan is down 0.3 percent.
McDonald's Holdings Japan on Thursday forecast a net loss of 38 billion yen for the fiscal year ended December 2015, the worst results since the company went public in 2001. Sales are expected to decline 10 percent to 200 billion yen. The company's shares are down more than 1 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Fukuoka Financial Group is gaining more than 4 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust is higher by more than 2 percent and Showa Denko is adding more than 1 percent.
Meanwhile, Alps Electric is losing more than 6 percent, while Ajinomoto Co and Kikkoman Corp. are down more than 3 percent each.
On the economic front, Japan will see March numbers for its consumer confidence index, with forecasts suggesting a score of 41.3, up from 40.7.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 119 yen- range on Friday, down slightly from Thursday's close.
Among other markets in the Asian region, Shanghai is up more than 2 percent, while South Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Malaysia are also in positive territory. Taiwan is trading lower.
On Wall Street, stocks closed slightly lower on Thursday after fluctuating throughout much of the trading session as traders weighed upbeat corporate earnings news against some disappointing economic data. The choppy trading may partly have reflected uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following the upward move seen over the past two weeks.
The Dow dipped 6.84 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 18,105.77, the Nasdaq edged down 3.23 points or 0.1 percent to 5,007.79 and the S&P 500 slipped 1.64 points or 0.1 percent to 2,104.99.
The major European markets all moved to the downside on Thursday. While the German DAX Index tumbled by 1.9 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index dropped by 0.6 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.
U.S. crude oil surged for a sixth straight session on Thursday, with investors mulling over the slowdown in U.S. production even as the dollar trended lower against some major currencies.
Crude oil futures for May delivery, the most actively traded contract, gained $0.32 or 0.6 percent to settle at $56.71 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Thursday. This is the highest settlement for the year.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX