Asian stocks track Wall Street lower, 3rd weekly decline eyed

By FXStreet The Asian equity markets slipped on the final trading day of this week, and remains poised to book third weekly drop, as sentiment soured following heavy losses seen on Wall Street overnight.

However, the Asian stocks find support from a rebound in the commodities’ prices after the previous sell-off, while upbeat regional economic news combined with a relatively weaker yen also offered some respite to the markets, especially the Japanese stocks.

Nikkei drops, despite yen weakness

The Japanese benchmark index, the Nikkei 225 edged -0.56% lower to 15,661 points, as markets cheer upbeat Japan’s current account data. The current account surplus expanded from JPY520.8 billion in January to JPY2.43 trillion in February, coming in higher than the forecast of a JPY2.03 trillion surplus. Meanwhile, USD/JPY stalled its recovery and now trades around 108.60, still up 0.38% on the day.

The Australian markets were also weighed down by yesterday’s oil price sell-off, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index losing -0.57% to trade at 4,935.
The Chinese equities had a negative start and extends losses amid a broad regional sell-off , with the benchmark Shanghai Composite index trading down -0.51%. The CSI300 index drops -0.44%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng tanks -0.90% …read more

Source:: FX Street