Asia report: Markets trip as sterling plummets

Markets in Asia tripped on Friday, as traders watched sterling take a major slide, and kept their purses closed ahead of the crucial nonfarm payrolls report for September, due from the US later on Friday.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 closed 0.23% lower at 16,860.09, with the yen maintaining its weakness against the greenback, last trading at JPY 103.82 per $1.

South Korea’s Kospi was 0.56% lower at 2,053.80, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index finished down 0.42% at 23,851.82.

Samsung Electronics was up 0.89%, touching a record high after it said it expected third-quarter operating profit to reach KRW 7.8trn.

Its components business was surging, the technology giant said, offsetting the impact of a recall of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones over an apparent self-combustion problem.

Reuters had analysts picking a lower quarterly profit of KRW 7.4trn.

On the Hong Kong bourse, one of China’s largest brokers - China Merchants Securities - failed to fire on its debut day.

It opened at its IPO price of HKD 12.00, and didn’t go much beyond HKD 12.02 for the session.

Markets on the mainland were still closed for a fifth day, for the Golden Week of public holidays.

Sterling dropped sharply during Asian trading, getting to fresh 30-year lows in what many analysts and traders called a “flash crash”.

It hit $1.1819 for a short time, before climbing back beyond $1.24 later in the Asian day.

One pound sterling was worth $1.2384 at 1032 BST on Friday.

“Investors may have thought that negotiations are going to be easy, but today's flash crash has shown where the support [for sterling] is and the reality is this that it won't be long before we may touch the low again,” noted ThinkMarkets chief market analyst Naeem Aslam.

Oil prices were higher during Asian trading, with Brent crude last up 0.29% at $52.66 and West Texas Intermediate adding 0.36% to $50.62.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.29% to 5,467.39, with most sectors finishing below the line, though two of the heftiest subindexes - financials and energy - closed 0.11% and 0.72% higher respectively.

The major banks were mostly up, with Australia and New Zealand Banking Group virtually flat, adding 0.01%, while Commonwealth Bank of Australia grew 0.3%, National Australia Bank gained 0.11% and Westpac marched ahead by 0.59%.

Chiefs of all four institutions appeared in Canberra this week, fronting a parliamentary inquiry to apologise for overcharges and poor financial advice.

New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 fell 0.4% to 7,167.82, led lower by online marketplace Trade Me, which lost 4.4%, while crude processor New Zealand Refining lost 2.8%.

The down under dollars were once again weaker against the greenback, with the Aussie last off 0.1% to AUD 1.3196 per $1, and the Kiwi weakening 0.52% to NZD 1.4030.