HONG KONG (AP) – Asian stock markets were mixed Friday as investors weighed Wall Street’s latest gains on strong earnings reports against the latest oil production cut, which dragged down crude prices and commodity shares.
KEEPING SCORE: Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.3 percent to 19,749.59 but South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.6 percent to 2,357.06. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was nearly unchanged at 25,637.28 and the Shanghai Composite index in mainland China climbed was similarly flat at 3,108.66. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.7 percent to 5,751.50. Taiwan’s benchmark fell and indexes in Southeast Asia were mostly higher.
CRUDE CUT: An alliance of oil-producing nations extended production cuts for nine months to shore up crude prices. The deal involving Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries members and Russia was widely expected by analysts, but disappointed investors who were hoping for a longer extension. Oil prices have rallied over the last few weeks, but experts doubt the deal will do much to boost prices. Benchmark U.S. crude lost 6 cents to $48.84 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract shed $2.46, or 4.8 percent, to settle at $48.90 a barrel on Thursday. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 3 cents to $51.49 a barrel in London. Australia’s Woodside Petroleum fell 2.3 percent and PetroChina lost 1.5 percent.
QUOTEWORTHY: “The extent of oil’s selloff demonstrates that, even with the extended production cuts now agreed, the U.S. oil price may struggle to get past the early to mid-$50’s range for some time yet,” said Ric Spooner, chief analyst at CMC Markets. “This time around, the production agreement may be more difficult to hold together.”
JAPAN PRICES: Inflation ticked up to a two-year high last month on rising energy costs, according to the latest official data. The figures offer some hope that people in Asia’s second-largest economy might be spurred to start spending more as growth recovers although economists say the consumer price index’s 0.3 percent increase is not likely to rise further.