Asia report: Markets mixed as Pyongyang fires another missile over Japan

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was up 0.52% at 19,909.50, as the yen weakened against the dollar after an earlier spike, last retreating 0.88% to JPY 111.21.

Toshiba was rather tirelessly near the top of the agenda again, after the company confirmed it was committed to selling its valuable memory chip unit by March next year.

It also claimed that Western Digital was “persistently” overstating its rights over the division, given the two are in joint venture at a manufacturing facility.

Toshiba has been trying to offload its memory subsidiary for several months in a bid to stem a cash crisis arising from the failure of its Westinghouse nuclear development acquisition in the US, however the process has been plagued by missed deadlines, lengthy talks and reversed decisions on an almost-weekly basis.

Its shares finished up 0.32%.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite was off 0.53% at 3,353.67, and the smaller, technology-centric Shenzhen Composite lost 0.28% to 1,987.99.

South Korea’s Kospi finished ahead 0.35% at 2,386.07, while the Hang Seng Index added 0.52% to close at 19,909.50.

Defence stocks were mixed in Seoul after an initial rise following missile ping-pong between the two Koreas.

Korea Aerospace was ahead 1.28%, while Victek lost 5.92%.

Among other blue chip stocks, Samsung Electronics reversed early losses to eke out a 0.2% gain.

North Korea fired a missile over Japan early in the day, which landed east of the northern island of Hokkaido.

In response, South Korea fired its own missile into the sea as a sort of ‘warning shot’.

The launch was largely expected following a warning from Pyongyang on Thursday that it would “sink” Japan, after it previously shot a missile over the country on 29 August.

However, unlike that last incident, the immediate reaction and rush to safe-haven assets was relatively muted, which a number of market watchers put down to investor fatigue over North Korean bluster.

“It would be wrong to say that markets are not taking any notice, but the relatively muted responses of yen, won and risk assets globally suggests that a sense of fatigue on this belligerence is creeping in,” noted ING Asia head of research Rob Carnell.

Oil prices were lower during Asian trading, but turned around as the continent knocked off for the weekend, with Brent crude last up 0.27% at $55.62 and West Texas Intermediate 0.16% firmer at $49.97.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.76%, led lower by a 1.88% decline in the materials subindex, while the hefty financials sector also weighed 0.68%.

Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 fell 0.7% to close at 7,762.66, with infant food and dairy products exporter A2 Milk losing 3.6%.

Both of the down under dollars were stronger on the greenback, with the Aussie last ahead 0.22% at AUD 1.2465 and the Kiwi advancing 0.81% to NZD 1.3736.