adminAsia’s benchmark stock index was little changed as Chinese shares slid on concern funding costs for lenders will remain high even after the central bank injected liquidity.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose as the yen reached a five-year low.
Ping An Insurance (Group), China’s second-largest insurer, declined 4,6 percent to lead declines on the Hang Seng Index. Mazda Motor Corp, a Japanese carmaker that gets 73 percent of sales abroad, climbed 3,5 percent.
Telstra Corp rose 1,8 percent, pushing Australia’s benchmark index to the biggest weekly gain in almost eight months, after agreeing to sell its Hong Kong mobile phone business.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell less than 0,1 percent to 138,36 in Hong Kong, for a 0,3 percent gain this week.
The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of mainland shares listed in the city retreated 1,4 percent, losing 3,6 percent this week.
The Chinese central bank on Friday added funding to selected lenders using short-term liquidity operations after money-market rates surged.
Seven of 10 industry groups on the MSCI Asia Pacific gauge fell. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index sank 0,3 percent and China’s Shanghai Composite retreated 2 percent. Ping An lost 4,6 percent to HK$67,10.
Japan’s broader Topix index fell 0,1 percent. — Bloomberg.
Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter