Chinese, South Korean and Japanese markets were on the negative territory on Friday’s closing bell along with the geopolitical tensions rising on the region. Most markets in Asia were shut last Friday due to holiday.
In China, the Shenzhen composite was 1.39 percent lower or 28.01 points at 1,986.64, while the Shanghai composite settled down by 0.96 percent or 31.47 points at 3,244.48. Taiwan also fell on Friday with its Taiex dropping 1.05 percent or 103.75 points at 9,732.93.
South Korean benchmark Kospi finished 0.64 percent lower or 13.73 points at 2,134.88. Meanwhile in Japan, Nikkei 225 declined 0.49 percent or 91.21 points at 18,335.63 and the Topix plunged by 0.63 percent or 9.24 points at 1,459.07.
The downward trade of Asia was followed by a lower finish on Wall Street when the United States launched the biggest non-nuclear bomb in Afghanistan last Thursday. According to Pentagon spokesperson Adam Stump, the GBU-43 bomb, also known as the “mother of all bombs”, has 11 tons of explosives and is also the first time to be utilized for combat. This explosive is also formally named as the Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB).
In Asian tech stocks, Toshiba slumped by 5.43 percent after the report that Apple was acknowledging collaborating with Taiwan’s Foxconn for a billion dollar worth of investment in the Japanese conglomerate.
Auto stocks in Japan also suffered after it struggled to get gains in Friday’s trade. Shares of Honda were lower by 0.57 percent, Sony lost 0.7 percent and Mitsubishi Electric dropped 1.54 percent. However, Toyota didn’t go with the flow after it gained 1.17 percent in its shares.