Asia-Pacific equities mixed on session

Asia-Pacific equities markets were mixed on Friday. In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 added 0.37 percent to 6,545.7 and the Sydney Ordinaries gained 0.59 percent to 6,607.4. Other gainers in the region included Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index, which gained 0.08 percent to 28,783.41. In Taiwan, the Taiex was up 0.37 percent to 8,970.92 while the Kospi index was 0.55 percent higher to 1,990.47 in South Korea. Losers on the session included the Shanghai Composite, which dropped 0.27 percent to 5,315.54. India’s Sensex was down 0.79 percent to 18,907.6 while the Straits Times index fell 2 percent to 3,599.67.

Tokyo’s markets were lower on the day. The Nikkei 225 was 1.19 percent lower on the session to 15,583.42 while the Topix index fell 1.49 percent to 1,494.35 and the Mothers market plummeted 4.46 percent to 817.

In Europe, markets fell on more worries about the subprime crisis. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 fell 1.56 percent to 1,511.91. In Frankfurt the Dax fell 0.09 percent to 7,812.4 while the IBEX dropped 1.35 percent to 15,731.2 in Madrid and the Paris CAC-40 was down 1.91 percent to 5,524.18. London’s markets were also lower. The FTSE 100 was down 1.21 percent to 6,304.9 while the FTSE 250 dropped 1.57 percent to 10,859.1.

Wall Street was significantly lower in midday trade on continuing concerns about losses to the credit crisis. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 1.18 percent lower to 13,109.48 while the Nasdaq Composite had dropped 2.1 percent to 2,639.38 and the S&P 500 fell 1 percent to 1,460.06.

Crude oil prices were higher on the session, while metals and grains prices were mixed.

Among currencies the yen, sterling and the Swiss franc all strengthened in relation to the US dollar.

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