Asia report: Most markets end week in the red

Markets in Asia finished lower on Friday, taking their cue from a red session overnight in the US as markets looked to price in the increasingly high risk of a rate rise from the Federal Reserve by the end of the month.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 0.49% to 19,469.17, with banking stocks now on the back foot, as Mitsubishi UFJ lost 0.59% and Mizuho was 0.33% softer.

The yen strengthened against the greenback during the session, though it pared back slightly after hours and was last 0.04% weaker at JPY 114.15 per $1.

That led to a drop in the share price of some of the major exporters, with Mitsubishi Electric down 1.01% and Toyota off 0.23%.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.34% at 3,219.18, while the smaller tech-focussed Shenzhen Composite was up 0.21% at 2,001.90.

South Korea’s Kospi was down 1.14% to 2,078.75, with geopolitical tensions between China and South Korea reportedly rising.

The country’s retail sector suffered, with Hyundai Department Store off 3.37%, Lotte Shopping finishing down 0.93% and Shinsegae losing 4.92%.

Those falls came after reports emerged late on Thursday that a cyber attack originating from a Chinese IP address brought down the Lotte Duty Free website.

The attack came soon after Lotte International gave the go-ahead for a land swap, to allow the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defence System to be built on its now former property, in direct response to the missile threat from North Korea.

Reports in Seoul also told how Chinese authorities had ordered tour operators in that country to halt the sale of trips to South Korea, as a response to the US defence deployment.

Down in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index finished down 0.74% at 23,552.72.

Oil prices were slightly higher during late trading in Asia, with Brent crude last up 0.47% at $55.34 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate adding 0.34% to $52.79.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.81% to finish at 5,729.60, with almost all subindexes closing the day in the red.

The weighty financial subindex was down 0.71% as most bank stocks dropped, with Australia and New Zealand Banking Group down 0.57%, Commonwealth Bank of Australia losing 0.79%, National Australia Bank off 0.93% and Westpac Banking Corporation 0.96% softer.

Gold miners were also lower in the sunburnt country as a stronger dollar pushed gold prices down.

Alacer Gold was off 5.16%, Evolution Mining lost 5.09% and Newcrest was 2.99% lower.

In New Zealand, the S&P/NZX 50 was off 0.2% to 7,160.86, led lower by subscription broadcaster Sky - unrelated to its London-listed namesake - the worst performer, down 2.7% a week after its proposed merger with Vodafone’s New Zealand operations was denied by the local competition regulator.

Manuka honey and health products exporter Comvita was the winner of the day adding 2.4%, while dairy products and infant food manufacturer A2 Milk was up 1.3%.

The down under dollars were both weaker, with the Kiwi last losing 0.54% to NZD 1.4237 against the greenback and the Aussie weakening 0.23% to AUD 1.3236 per $1.