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On Friday, Asian stock markets were mostly trading lower. Thus, the Chinese Shanghai Composite Index and Shenzhen Composite lost 0.9% and 1.13%, respectively, while the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index declined by 1.29%. South Korea stock indices were down by 0.2%, Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped by 1.7%, while Australia's indices were up by 0.16%.
The main factor that forms the market sentiment is the meetings of major central banks, such as the Fed, the Bank of England, and the Bank of Japan, that took place this week. Thus, the US regulator decided to keep the interest rate at 0–0.25% and to cut the $30 billion asset purchase program. A rate hike is expected as early as next year.
The UK central bank, on the other hand, decided to raise the interest rate from 0.1% to 0.25%, contrary to analysts' forecasts who assumed that the rate would remain unchanged. At the same time, the ECB left the interest rate unchanged.
The Japanese central bank set the rate at -0.1%. The regulator also announced its plans to reduce the volume of asset purchases to 5 trillion yen (equal to $43.97 billion). In general, according to the bank's officials, the economic situation in Japan has improved. The central bank also announced the extension of the support program for small businesses launched during the spread of the new COVID-19 variant.
Investors also keep an eye on escalating tensions between China and the United States. A recent incident related to the violation of human rights in one of China's provinces encouraged the US to impose sanctions on 34 Chinese entities and blacklist them. This situation has become an additional risk factor for the stock markets.
On the Japanese stock exchange, shares of the following companies fell in price: Toyota Motor Corp. (by 1.3%), Asia Fast Retailing Co. (by 1.1%), SoftBank Group Corp. (by 2.1%), and Rakuten Group Inc. (by 1.9%).
According to fresh data, China's GDP growth stood at 2.2% last year instead of the 2.3% announced earlier. Such sectors as the hotel business and real estate were revised downwards by 3.7 points and 1.6 points respectively.
On the Hong Kong stock exchange, the following securities posted losses: JD.com Inc. (by 3.8%), Meituan (by 5.6%), Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (by 4%), as well as BYD Co. Ltd. (by 3.9%).
Samsung Electronics Co. fell by 0.5%, while LG Corp. increased by 1.1%. Securities of Kia Corp. lost 1%, while Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd. added 0.5%.
Amid rising Australian indices, the value of securities of Fortescue Metal Group increased by 0.9%, BHP Group, Ltd. - by 0.3%, and Evolution Mining Ltd. - by 4.2%.
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