Earnings, Trade Outlooks Dull Asian Stock Markets

06:42 AM EDT, 03/21/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Asian stock markets drifted south Friday on weak earnings reports in Hong Kong and overnight in the US, and on concerns regarding international trade issues.

Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo finished in the red, while other regional exchanges were mixed and muted.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 opened evenly, wobbled and finished off 0.2% as traders awaited fresh market catalysts.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 74.82 to 37,677.06, as losing issues outnumbered gainers 131 to 91.

Leading the upside was online shopping platform Mercari, up 7.5%, while silicon wafer maker Sumco declined 6.1%.

In economic news, Japan's much-quoted core consumer price index (CPI-core), that strips out fresh food bills, rose 3% on year in February, easing from the 3.2% on-year rate logged in January, reported the Statistics Bureau.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index opened lower and declined through the day, finishing off 2.2% after several large companies reported disappointing earnings.

Share in giant conglomerate CK Hutchison, controlled by the prominent Li Ka-shing family, declined 3.6% after reporting a 27% profit slide for 2024.

The broad gauge Hang Seng fell 530.23 to 23,689.72, as losing issues outnumbered gainers 75 to seven. The Hang Seng TECH Index lost 3.4% on the day, while the Mainland Properties Index fell 2.1%.

Leading the upside was CK Infrastructure, gaining 0.6%, while automaker BYD declined 7.7%.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite fell 1.3% to 3,364.83.

On the other regional exchanges, the S. Korean KOSPI rose 0.2%; the Taiwan TWSE declined 0.8%; the Australian ASX 200 inclined 0.2%; the Singapore Straits Times Index fell 0.1%, and the Thai Set inclined 0.4%. In late trading in Mumbai, the Sensex was up 0.7%.

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