Asian Stocks Mixed as Investor Confidence Over Global Economic Recovery Decreases

© Reuters.

By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Asian stocks were mixed on Friday morning, with a months-long rally starting to fizzle out.

“We had stocks make a miraculous recovery from their March 23 lows and so it makes sense that we’re unlikely to see the rally continue at the pace it has,” Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist at Invesco (NYSE:IVZ), told Bloomberg.

“We’re probably going to see more of a plateauing, more of trading in a range until there’s a catalyst that moves them forward.”

Investors are also monitoring U.S.-China relations, which continue to simmer in the background. The U.S. Senate on Thursday debated possible sanctions against Chinese entities involved with the national security laws for Hong Kong and Macau.

Meanwhile, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said overnight that he feels “very good” about the progress of the phase-one trade agreement between the two countries.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.12% by 10:38 PM ET (3:38 AM GMT), reversing some of its earlier losses. in the aftermath of the city’s Legislative Council passing a bill to criminalize insulting the national anthem, and thousands meeting to commemorate the Tiananmen Square (NYSE:SQ) crackdown in defiance of a government ban.

China’s Shanghai Composite was up 0.05%, also reversing some earlier losses, but the Shenzhen Component shed 0.12%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.24% and South Korea’s KOSPI jumped 0.67%. Down Under, the ASX 200 slipped 0.09%.

In other news, data from the U.S. said that a further 1.877 million Americans claimed unemployment last week, against a forecasted 1.8 million claims. The country is also set to release its non-farm payrolls report for May later in the day.