Investing.com - Financial Markets Worldwide

Most Asian shares down at midday, Nikkei, Shanghai off, ASX gains

Published 04/23/2015, 11:29 PM
Updated 04/23/2015, 11:30 PM
© Reuters. Nikkei eases
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Investing.com - Shares in Tokyo took a breather and fell on Friday at the break with China shares also off, though Sydney recovered.

The Nikkei 225 fell 0.80% by midday Friday, while the Shanghai Composite was down 1.35% and the Hang Seng index off 0.15%. The S&P/ASX 200 bucked the trend, up 1.45% at the near-end of the session.

In Japan, the March service PPI rose 3.2%, a tick below the 3.3% gain expected.

U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms, Oil & Gas and Utilities sectors led shares higher.

At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.11%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.24%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.41%.

On Thursday data showed that U.S. jobless claims rose unexpectedly last week and that U.S. new home sales dropped far more than expected in March.

The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending April 18 increased by 1,000 to 295,000 from the previous week’s total of 294,000.

Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to fall by 4,000 to 290,000 last week.

Data also showed that U.S. new home sales dropped 11.4% last month to 481,000 units after a revised 5.6% increase to 541,000 in February. Analysts had expected new home sales to fall 5.3% to 513,000.

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