Asia: Stocks mostly lower after sell-off on Wall Street

Asian stocks were mostly lower following a broad sell-off on Wall Street.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index and Japan’s Nikkei 225 index finished down 0.59% and 2.68% respectively. However, Shanghai bucked the trend to close 1.98% higher after a volatile session.

US stocks closed lower as oil prices yo-yoed as data from the IEA showed that inventories of US crude oil and refined products hit record highs, adding to worries about an oversupply in the market.

Inventories of gasoline increased by 8.4m barrels in the week to 8 January, following a 10.6m barrel build the previous week, beating expectations for a 1.6m build, data from the Energy Information Administration revealed.

At 1017 Brent crude rose 0.29% to $30.40 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate increased 0.71% to $30.70 per barrel.

“A depressed oil price remains hindered by global oversupply and the prospect of it getting worse as Iran returns to market, while China jitters continue to shake everything from commodities to financials,” said Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets.

In currencies, China’s yuan fell sharply in the offshore market on Thursday, reversing gains earlier in the week after the central bank raised its value. The yuan fell as much as 0.7% to 6.6128 to the dollar despite the People’s Bank of China setting the rate stronger against the dollar.

The PBoC fixed the yuan at 6.5616 to one US dollar, slightly stronger from the previous fix of 6.5630 on Wednesday.

The Japanese yen weakened by 0.3% against the dollar at 117.96 in a lift to exporters. However, the currency remains near its strongest levels in almost five months. It has risen 2.5% so far this year.

In other Japanese news, core machinery orders in November fell 14.4% from the previous month, according to official data, down for the first time in three months.

On the company front, shares in Samsung Electronics dropped as it said it would mass produce Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 820 mobile processors, boosting its manufacturing business.

Sumitomo slumped following reports the company would record a 77 billion yen loss for the October-December quarter from a nickel project in Madagascar.