Investing.com - Shares in Asia were mixed on Friday as caution ruled following sharp gains in U.S. equities in the past month.
Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.16%, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.23% on a 0.93 percent gain in the energy sector and a 0.83 percent uptick in the heavily-weighted financial sector. The Shanghai composite rose 0.4% and the Hang Seng index fell 0.48%, as gaming shares led losses following reports of Beijing taking aim at the Macau gaming industry in a bid to halt capital outflows.
Wynn Macau fell 7.8 percent, Sands China dropped 6.4%, Melco International plunged 8.79% and Galaxy shed 6.37%. That followed losses of as much as 10% in their U.S.-listed counterparts overnight.
The South China Morning Post reported Macau will slash the withdrawal limit for China UnionPay ATM card holders from 10,000 to 5,000 Macanese patacas ($626), which is expected to take effect from Saturday. This, the Post reported, follows the discovery that as much as 10 billion patacas in China UnionPay ATM withdrawals were made in one month alone.
Overnight, U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Financials and Oil & Gas sectors led shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.32% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.15%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.27%.