EQUITIES
Asia-Pacific markets traded mostly lower on Friday as investors assessed monetary policy decisions from key central banks.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.34% to lead losses in the region. Chinese mainland shares also tumbled, with the Shanghai composite falling 0.90% while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index slipped 1.20%.
South Korea’s Kospi traded 0.22% lower, the Straits Times index in Singapore shed 0.20%, and the S&P BSE Sensex in India lose 0.50%.
In Australia, shares bucked the downward trend with the benchmark ASX 200 gaining 0.31%.
Friday’s session follows overnight declines on Wall Street where weakness among large tech stocks dragged down major market averages. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.08% to end at 35,897.64, while the S&P 500 lost 0.87% to 4,668.67. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.47% to 15,180.44.
OIL
Oil prices dipped on Friday, as surging cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant raised fears new curbs may hit fuel demand. However, a weaker dollar supported commodity markets broadly, putting the crude oil market on track to end the week roughly unchanged.
The Brent now traded at $74.46 per barrel, and U.S. crude futures traded at $71.77 per barrel. WTI was poised to finish the week up 0.7% while Brent was headed for a 0.4% loss for the week.
Overnight, both benchmarks gained around 2%, with the Brent futures ends at $75.02 a barrel, while the WTI crude oil prices closed to $72.38 per barrel.
CURRENCIES
The dollar index was trading at 95.987, off nearly 1% since Wednesday's high immediately after the Federal Reserve announced it would accelerate tapering of its emergency bond buying programme and prepare to raise rates more quickly next year.
The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes was at 1.429%, the lower end of their recent range, while the two-year yield, was at 0.6330% also having rolled off its recent highs.
GOLD
Spot gold edged higher on Friday, rose 0.16% to $1,802.10 per ounce, and U.S. gold futures added 0.25% to $1,802.70.
Spot silver slipped 0.11% to $22.46 an ounce, platinum little changed at $929.30, and palladium edged 0.57% lower to $1,713.00.
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
Asian stock markets and the U.S. dollar struggled for traction on Friday after a rush of central bank meetings underlined the growing threat posed by a spike in global inflation, while fears about the Omicron variant of COVID-19 added to a cautious mood.
Britain and Norway hiked interest rates and the ECB trimmed its super-sized bond buying program. Federal Reserve's decision to taper sooner than previously stated pushed investors toward more economically sensitive sectors and away from growth and technology stocks.
Hong Kong-listed shares of Chinese tech companies sold off sharply on Friday: Alibaba shares fell 3.81%, JD was down 1.33%, Meituan declined 4.95%, search engine giant Baidu tumbled 1.37% and Tencent slipped 3.14%.
The U.S. on Thursday said it was imposing trade restrictions on more than 30 Chinese research institutes and entities over human rights violations and the alleged development of technologies, such as brain-control weapons, that undermine U.S. national security.
