Investing.com - Tokyo led shares lower in Asia on Friday with the Nikkei 225 down 0.7% as tension in the Ukraine weighed and a slew of month-end economic data painted a mixed picture on economic recovery.
The government reported the consumer-price index rose 1.3% on a year-to-year basis in July, excluding a sales-tax increase that took effect in April, and matching the on-year rise in June. The measure is closely watched to see how far inflation is from hitting the Bank of Japan's 2% target, key for determining how successful Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic policies have been.
The Hang Seng fell 0.4%, extending three days of losses.
Heavyweight Petrochina Co Ltd OTC (OTC:PCCYF), China's biggest oil company by capacity, was down 0.7% despite posting a 4% increase in first-half net profit helped by an improving refining and chemicals businesses.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 wavered ahead of the U.S. Labor Day weekend and amid a continued slide in iron-ore prices.
Overnight, mounting tensions in Ukraine overshadowed robust U.S. economic indicators and sent Wall Street stock indices falling.
The Dow 30 fell 0.25%, the S&P 500 index fell 0.17%, while the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.26%.
A top Ukrainian military official was reported as saying earlier that a "full-scale invasion" was taking place in the country, while separate reports that up to 1,000 Russian troops were in Ukraine to assist pro-Russian rebels sent investors ditching equities in search of safe-harbor assets such as gold.
The U.N., meanwhile, was holding an emergency meeting to address the crisis, which sent investors to the sidelines on fears that military conflicts will dampen the global recovery and drag on the U.S. economy as a consequence.
U.S. data took a back seat to events unfolding in Ukraine.
The U.S. gross domestic product grew at a revised annualized rate of 4.2% in the second quarter of this year, according to the Commerce Department, up from a preliminary estimate of 4.0% and better than market forecasts for a downward revision to 3.9%.
Elsewhere, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending Aug. 22 declined by 1,000 to 298,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 299,000.
Analysts were expecting the figure to rise by 1,000 instead of contract by that amount.
A separate report showed that U.S. pending home sales increased by 3.3% last month, beating expectations for a 0.5% rise. June's figure was revised to a 1.3% drop from a previously estimated decline of 1.1%.
On Friday, expect markets to move on U.S. personal spending and income reports, a Chicago-area factory gauge and consumer sentiment figures.