Asia close: Wall of IPOs weighs on China stocks

Asian stocks to a large extent brushed off overnight reports of an Ebola infection having been detected in New York after Wall Street finished on a strong note.

The Shanghai stock exchange’s main composite index was 0.01% down at the close. Even so, it was down by 1.7% for the week on concern over what effect new listings will have on existing issues and that a link between Shanghai’s and Hong Kong’s bourses would have.

The shares of six new companies began trading on the market Friday, on the heels of another three market debuts on Thursday.

To take note of, home prices in China dropped in September in 69 of 70 cities monitored by authorities in Beijing, with falls of 0.7% month-on-month reported in Beijing and another 0.9% in Shanghai, according to the country’s National Bureau of Statistics.

The Nikkei-225 had gained 1.10% to trade at 15,291.64 by the close of trading. The dollar/yen cross rate bounced back 0.96% to finish at 108.18.

Japan Airlines shares did slide 0.6% on the back of the Ebola reports. Analysts however seemed confident when emphasising that it was a case of infection, not of contagion.

New Zealand’s main stock market gauge closed up 0.775 at 5,333.83 and Thailand’s SET by another 0.47% to 1,539.91.