Bangkok: Asian stocks were mixed Friday following a choppy session on Wall Street as investors struggled to make sense of conflicting reports on the health of the US economy.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 0.3 per cent to 8,723.12. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.5 per cent to 3,990.10. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.7 per cent to 17,711.95 and South Korea's Kospi dipped 0.6 per cent to 1,759.60.
Benchmarks in mainland China, Taiwan, Malaysia, New Zealand and the Philippines were higher, while Singapore's fell.
In New York on Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average ended higher after data showed first-time applications for unemployment benefits fell to a five-month low. The US government also raised its estimate of economic growth in the April-June period.
But other economic reports were weak. A trade group reported that chief executives of the nation's largest companies are more pessimistic than they were just three months ago. Also, fewer Americans signed contracts to buy homes in August, the second straight month of declines.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.3 per cent to close at 11,153.98 after a day of big swings. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 0.8 per cent to 1,160.40. The Nasdaq composite index lost 0.4 per cent to 2,480.76.
In Europe on Thursday, stocks surged after Germany passed a measure to expand the powers of a regional bailout fund.
The measure, which must be approved by all 17 countries that use the euro, will allow the bailout fund to buy government debt and lend money to troubled European countries. Finland approved the measure on Wednesday.
Oil rebounded following the news out of the US and Europe. Benchmark oil for November delivery was up 56 cents to $82.72 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 93 cents to finish at $82.14 per barrel on the Nymex on Thursday.
In currency trading, the euro slipped to $1.3557 from $1.3591 late on Thursday in New York. The dollar weakened to 76.51 yen from 76.79 yen.
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