Asia-Pacific markets fell on Friday amid a downbeat tone set by U.S. markets overnight, while South Korea’s benchmark index outpaced regional peers for the week.
The U.S. benchmark S&P 500 index ended an eight-day winning streak as Treasury yields spiked and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled more work may be needed to bring down inflation.
South Korea’s Kospi saw weekly gains of 1.75% after a strong start to the week when the country reimposed a ban on short selling.
The Kospi closed 0.72% lower at 2,409.6 on Friday, while the Kosdaq ended 1.69% lower at 789.31. On Monday, the Kosdaq gained 7.34% but has since fallen for four straight days, wiping out nearly all those initial gains. It ended the week 1.02% higher.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.24% to close at 32,568.11, after gains of nearly 1.5% in the prior session. The Topix eked out gains to end 0.07% higher at 2,336.72.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shed 1.74% in the final hour of trading and is poised for a weekly decline of 2.59%, which would make it the worst performer this week among Asia’s major benchmarks. China’s CSI 300 index closed 0.73% lower at 3,586.49.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 ended 0.55% lower at 6,976.50.
Wall Street’s main indexes closed lower. The S&P 500 fell 0.81%, ending an eight-day winning streak, as a sharp jump in yields rattled investors.
The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.94% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.65%.
