Asian markets traded sideways on Friday, following a flat to lower close on Wall Street, in a light regional data day.
Japanese benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 0.36 percent early Friday morning.
Australia’s ASX 200 added 0.2 percent, buoyed by its gold sub-index, which was up 0.73 percent.
In South Korea, the Kospi was flat as the won weakened against the dollar.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson heads to Seoul today, as part of his visit to Asia. Tillerson said on Thursday in Japan that part of his visit was to find a “new approach” to deal with threats from North Korea.
Major U.S. indexes closed mostly lower, weighed by losses in the healthcare sector after U.S. President Donald Trump released his budget blueprint that proposed cutting the National Institutes of Health’s spending by $5.8 billion.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 0.07 percent at 20,934.55, the S&P 500 closed lower by 0.16 percent to 2,381.38 and the Nasdaq composite closed nearly flat at 5,900.76.
Chinese group, the Global CEO Fortune Club, launched its first overseas fund on Thursday with an aim to invest in Australian infrastructure projects. The group expects to find opportunities for public-private partnership from its base in Melbourne.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve had raised interest rates and the People’s Bank of China followed and lifted its short-term interest rates on Thursday. One of Australia’s “Big Four” banks, National Australia Bank, said it would raise rates on variable home loans for owner occupiers and investment properties.
“The story in global markets over the past 24 hours has centered on a broad-based tightening of monetary policy conditions (and the perception of future tightening), while the cost to borrow from certain financial institutions has also increased,” said Chris Weston, chief market strategist at spread-better IG, in a Friday note.
In China, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman oversaw the signing of deals worth as much as $65 million on the first day of a visit to Beijing. Some of the deals included a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Saudi Aramco and China North Industrial Group to look into building more plants in China.
The dollar remained under pressure against a basket of currencies, at 100.36 compared to levels above 101 seen earlier this week. The yen traded at 113.32 against the greenback early Asian morning and the Australian dollar fetched $0.7673.
In the energy markets, oil prices slipped on Thursday during U.S. hours despite support from the weaker dollar as U.S. crude stockpiles near record high levels. Investors also noted comments by Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih that a coordinated pact by the Organization of the Petroleum xporting Countries (OPEC) and key producers outside the cartel to trim supplies to the market is on track .
Brent crude was down 7 cents lower at $51.74 a barrel, and U.S. light crude was down 11 cents to $48.75.