Asian shares retreated on Friday after a broad rally for stocks drove the S&P 500 index to an all-time high as weak manufacturing data from Japan helped dampen investor sentiment.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index lost 0.8 per cent to 21,286.49 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong dropped 0.3 per cent to 28,476.75. South Korea’s Kospi declined 0.3 per cent to 2,124.73.
In Australia, the S&P ASX 200 declined 0.7 per cent to 6,641.40. India’s Sensex lost 0.5 per cent. Shares edged higher in Taiwan and Thailand but fell in Singapore.
The Shanghai Composite index added 0.6 per cent to 3,005.36, reports AP.
Wall Street capped a broad rally for stocks Thursday by driving the S&P 500 index to a fresh record, up 0.9 per cent to 2,954.18, a record high.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average also rose 0.9 per cent, to 26,753.17. The Nasdaq gained 0.8 per cent to 8,051.34 and the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies picked up 0.5 per cent to 1,563.49.
The price of gold, meanwhile, jumped 3.6 per cent.
The price of US crude oil fell back early Friday after jumping 5.4 per cent. Crude prices had been in a bear market just weeks ago, what Wall Street calls a drop of 20 per cent or more.
Benchmark US crude oil lost 24 cents to $56.85 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up from its close Thursday of $57.07.
Brent crude oil, the international standard, gave up 12 cents to $64.33 per barrel. It rose 4.3 per cent Thursday to close at $64.45 a barrel.
The dollar fell to 107.08 Japanese yen from 107.28 yen on Thursday. The euro rose to $1.1296 from $1.1295.
