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Asia-Pacific markets mixed following overnight declines on Wall Street

by Asia Insider

SINGAPORE — Stocks in Asia-Pacific were mixed in Friday morning trade following overnight declines for the major indexes on Wall Street.

In Japan, the NIkkei 225 declined 0.48% while the Topix index shed 0.36%.

Japan’s core consumer prices declined 0.6% in January as compared with a year earlier, according to data released Friday by the country’s Statistics Bureau. That marked the sixth straight month of annual declines, according to Reuters.

South Korea’s Kospi gained about 0.20%.

Stocks in Australia slipped as the S&P/ASX 200 declined about 0.65%.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.06% higher.

In economic developments, Australia’s preliminary retail sales data for January is set to be out at around 8:30 a.m. HK/SIN on Friday.

Currencies

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 90.592 as it eased off from levels above 90.9 seen earlier in the week.

The Japanese yen traded at 105.69 per dollar, stronger than levels above 106 against the greenback seen earlier this week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.777, having swung from around $0.78 to below $0.774 so far this week.

Here’s a look at what’s on tap:

  • Australia: Preliminary retail sales data for January at 8:30 a.m. HK/SIN

— CNBC’s Jeff Cox contributed to this report.

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Source: CNBC

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