BEIJING – Shares were mostly lower Friday in Asia as uncertainty over the war in Ukraine and persistently high inflation kept their sway over markets.
Hong Kong, Tokyo and Sydney declined while Shanghai and Singapore gained.
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Investors are fretting over how the world economy may struggle with price pressures and slowing growth. Oil prices advanced on Friday as Russian forces broadened their offensive in Ukraine, attacking two major cities to the west and an industrial center in the east of the country.
A plan to revoke Russia's most favored nation trade status over its invasion of Ukraine added to unease over the economic repercussions of the deepening conflict after talks between foreign ministers of the two countries failed to show any concrete progress.
President Joe Biden plans to announce the change Friday, according to a source familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview the announcement. It will allow the U.S. and other major industrial countries to raise tariffs on some Russian exports.
The move is unlikely to have a major impact on trade, since it will have a negligible effect on most exports of oil, gas and other Russian resources, experts said.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index lost 2.1% to 25,162.78 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong shed 1.6% to 20,553.79.
The Shanghai Composite index reversed earlier losses, gaining 0.4% to 3,309.75 after Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, the country's No. 2 leader, said the government hopes to generate as many as 13 million new jobs this year.
Premier Li Keqiang promised “pro-job policies” including tax and fee cuts totaling 2.5 trillion yuan ($400 billion) for businesses to help counter a slowdown in growth, which fell to 4% over a year earlier in the final quarter of 2021, down from the full year’s 8.1% expansion.
Surging coronavirus cases in both the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong have added to concerns dogging their markets.
The Kospi in Seoul declined 0.7% to 2,661.28. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gave up 0.9% to 7,063.60.
Investors are keeping to the sidelines ahead of the weekend, given the potential for big surprises while markets are closed, analysts said.
“When confidence is low, risk managers are in the drivers’ seat, keeping bank and market maker liquidity to a minimum which could be exacerbating inter-day moves," Stephen Innes of API Asset Management said in a commentary.
“And no wonder as predicting day-to-day market actions is about as consistent as flipping a coin," Innes said.
Stocks slipped on Wall Street Thursday in choppy trading while oil prices bounced, with a barrel of U.S. crude jumping as much as 5.7%, before ending down 2.5%. A day earlier, benchmarks had surged to their biggest gain since June 2020 when a tumble for oil prices seemed to take some pressure off the world’s high inflation.
Oil prices have moderated since their wild swings earlier in the week, with U.S. benchmark crude $1.77 to $107.79 per barrel after falling Thursday by $2.68 to $106.02 per barrel.
Brent crude, the basis for international pricing, jumped $2.44 to $111.77 per barrel.
Both it and U.S. benchmark oil are up more than 40% for 2022 so far, though they remain below the peaks they hit earlier this week, when U.S. oil briefly topped $130.
Oil's back-and-forth moves are just some of the waves buffeting markets as volatility has become the norm since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has added to worries about how high prices will go for oil, wheat and other commodities.
Investors already were on edge because high inflation is pushing central banks to raise interest rates for the first time since the pandemic began and halt programs launched to support the global economy.
The European Central Bank said Thursday that high inflation will push it to wrap up its bond-buying program meant to boost its economy faster than expected. In the U.S., a report showed that consumer prices leaped 7.9% in February from a year earlier. It's the sharpest spike since 1982, though the reading was largely within expectations.
Analysts said Thursday's data did not include the most recent surges for oil and gasoline prices and didn't hit the 8% threshold that might trigger alarm.
The Federal Reserve is expected to raise its key short-term rate by a quarter of a percentage point next week, the first hike since 2018. Higher rates slow the economy, and the Fed is trying to raise them enough to tamp down inflation but not so much that it causes a recession.
In other trading, the yield on the 10-year Treasury, which tracks expectations for inflation and economic growth, wavered immediately after the inflation report’s release. It rose to 2% from 1.94% late Wednesday. Early Friday it was at 1.98%.
The U.S. dollar rose to 116.82 Japanese yen from 116.11 yen and the euro fell to $1.0981 from $1.0987.