Investing.com - Shares in Asia were mixed in early trade on Friday with Japan in focus after a Twitter attack on its top automaker by the next U.S. president.
The Nikkei 225 fell 0.46% led by Toyota shares tumbled after President-elect Donald Trump said plans by the automaker to make cars in Mexico for export to the U.S. would be opposed.
"Toyota Motor said will build a new plant in Baja, Mexico, to build Corolla cars for U.S. NO WAY! Build plant in U.S. or pay big border tax," Trump said in a tweet. Japanese officials responded with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, the chief government spokesman, defending Toyota as a good corporate citizen in the U.S. Other automakers, including Nissan and Honda.
Toyota dropped as much as 3.1% to 6,830 yen in early trade, while Honda Motor lost 2.4% and Nissan Motor eased 2.0%. The S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.09%.
The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.05%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was last up 0.45%. The yuan was weaker Friday against the dollar even though the People's Bank of China set the fixing stronger for a second consecutive day at 6.8668.
Overnight, U.S. stocks were mixed after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Healthcare, Technology and Consumer Services sectors led shares higher while losses in the Financials, Industrials and Basic Materials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.24%, while the S&P 500 index lost 0.13%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.21%.