CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stock markets are turning in a mixed performance on Friday following the lackluster cues overnight from Wall Street with investors cautious amid lingering uncertainty about a new U.S. fiscal stimulus bill. Worries about the surging coronavirus cases worldwide also weighed on the markets.
The Australian market is extending losses from the previous session following the mixed cues overnight from Wall Street.
News that the Australian government has cancelled a deal to buy millions of doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine being developed in Australia also dampened sentiment. The order was cancelled after the University of Queensland and biotechnology company CSL abandoned trials of the vaccine as some participants returned false positive results for HIV.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 25.20 points or 0.38 percent to 6,657.90, after touching a low of 6,648.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 18.00 points or 0.26 percent to 6,899.10. Australian stocks closed lower on Thursday, snapping a seven-session rally.
Shares of CSL are losing more than 3 percent after the company abandoned future development of the coronavirus vaccine being developed in Australia.
The big four banks are lower. ANZ Banking, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac are down in a range of 0.3 percent to 0.8 percent.
Gold miners are also weak after gold prices extended losses overnight. Evolution Mining is losing almost 1 percent and Newcrest Mining is lower by 0.3 percent.
Meanwhile, the major miners are higher, reflecting strong demand for iron ore from China. Fortescue Metals is rising almost 2 percent, BHP Group is advancing more than 1 percent and Rio Tinto is adding 0.3 percent.
Oil stocks are advancing after crude oil prices rebounded and closed sharply higher overnight. Woodside Petroleum is rising almost 3 percent, Santos is adding more than 2 percent and Oil Search is higher by more than 1 percent.
Tech stocks are also higher. Afterpay is gaining almost 4 percent and WiseTech Global is adding 0.6 percent, while Appen is lower by almost 2 percent.
The Japanese market slipped into negative territory after opening higher, while the safe-haven yen strengthened against the U.S. dollar.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 172.72 points or 0.65 percent to 26,583.52, after falling to a low of 26,553.01 earlier. The Japanese market closed lower on Thursday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group and Fast Retailing are declining more than 1 percent each. In the tech space, Advantest is lower by more than 1 percent and Tokyo Electron is down 0.4 percent.
The major exporters are lower on a stronger yen. Mitsubishi Electric is losing 1 percent and Sony is down 0.5 percent, while Panasonic and Canon are down 0.3 percent each.
Sony's Funimation Global Group will buy AT&T's anime business Crunchyroll for $1.175 billion.
Among automakers, Toyota is rising almost 3 percent, while Honda is declining almost 2 percent. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is adding 0.3 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging down 0.1 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Nexon Co. is gaining almost 6 percent, while Showa Denko and IHI Corp. are rising more than 4 percent each.
Conversely, Asahi Kasei and Japan Exchange Group are losing almost 4 percent each, while Japan Steel Works is lower by almost 3 percent.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in upper 103 yen-range on Friday.
Elsewhere in Asia, Shanghai, Taiwan and Indonesia are also lower, while South Korea, Singapore, New Zealand, Malaysia and Hong Kong are higher.
On Wall Street, stocks closed mixed on Thursday as traders kept an eye on the latest developments in Washington amid lingering uncertainty about a new fiscal stimulus bill. The House has passed a one-week funding bill to avoid a government shutdown, although lawmakers remain at a stalemate over coronavirus relief. traders were also reacting to a Labor Department report showing a significant increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended December 5.
While the Nasdaq climbed 66.85 points or 0.5 percent to 12,405.81, the Dow dipped 69.55 points or 0.2 percent to 29,999.26 and the S&P 500 edged down 4.72 points or 0.1 percent to 3,668.10.
The major European markets also turned in a mixed performance on Thursday. While the German DAX Index dipped by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index inched up by 0.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.5 percent.
Crude oil prices moved up sharply on Thursday, lifting the most active futures contract to their highest settlement in nearly nine months. WTI crude for January jumped $1.26 or about 2.8 percent to $46.78 a barrel.
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