TOKYO: Asian shares flatlined on Friday but remained on track for a weekly gain, while crude oil prices pulled away from this week’s 10-month lows.
Financial spreadbetter CMC Markets sees European markets opening modestly weaker, with Britain’s FTSE 100, Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 all seen shedding points in early trade.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was nearly unchanged on the day, and was up 0.4 per cent for the week.
The Shanghai Composite slipped 0.7 per cent while China’s blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.3 per cent. The latter earlier this week hit an 18-month high on excitement over MSCI’s decision to include mainland shares in a key index.
“Investors have no incentives today to take new positions ahead of the weekend,” said Mitsuo Shimizu, equity strategist at Japan Asia Securities in Tokyo.
Japan’s Nikkei stock index was slightly higher in afternoon trade, on track to log a rise of 0.9 per cent for a week in which it touched its highest levels since August 2015.
“The actual macro situation in Japan is pretty good,” said Ed Rogers, head of Rogers Investment Advisors in Tokyo, who noted the country’s streak of five quarters of positive gross domestic product numbers.
He said the dollar remained bolstered against the yen by the Federal Reserve’s move to hike interest rates last week and leave the door open for further monetary tightening later in the year.
“We’re not seeing global inflation, but we think the Fed will continue to move. That stone’s rolling down the hill,” Rogers said.
Longer-term, that will support the dollar and underpin Japanese shares, he added.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was down 0.2 per cent at 97.449, though up 0.3 per cent for the week.
The euro was up 0.1 per cent on the day at $1.1163 but was down 0.3 per cent for the week, while the dollar was steady against the yen at 111.29, up 0.4 per cent for the week.
“We’re getting close to the end of the month, and fundamentals aside, there will be people selling dollars, so it will be easy for the yen to strengthen next week,” said Mitsuo Imaizumi, Tokyo-based chief foreign exchange strategist for Daiwa Securities.
On Wall Street overnight, US shares put in a mixed performance, though the S&P healthcare index rose 1 per cent and hit its fifth consecutive record close following the release of the Senate Republicans’ bill.
US economic data on Thursday showed the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week, but remained at levels consistent with a tight labour market. Home prices also increased in April more than expected.
The Mexican peso added 0.1 per cent after soaring 1 per cent on Thursday as Mexico’s central bank board raised interest rates, saying it wanted to anchor inflation expectations and take into account last week’s move by the US Federal Reserve to hike borrowing costs.
Crude oil futures pulled further away from this week’s lows, though market sentiment remained fragile amid a global crude glut that has persisted despite Opec-led output cuts.
Brent crude was up 0.4 per cent at $45.40 a barrel. US crude futures also rose 0.4 per cent to $42.91 a barrel.
Spot gold added 0.2 per cent to $1,252.51 an ounce, moving away from a five-week low touched earlier this week. — Reuters
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