Asia markets down; U.S. shutdown and Japan inflation weigh on sentiment

Asia stocks trade lower on Friday, tracking weakness on Wall Street after funding bills aimed at ending the US government shutdown failed to pass the Senate for the seventh time on ￰0￱ assessed remarks from Fed officials on interest rates and the start of the ￰1￱ ￰2￱ ￰3￱ Thursday imposed sanctions on about 100 individuals, entities, and vessels accused of aiding Iran’s oil and petrochemical trade, the Trump administration ￰4￱ edged down to around $49 per ounce on Friday but remained on track for its eighth consecutive weekly ￰5￱ rose to around $3,980 per ounce on Friday, heading for its eighth consecutive weekly gain, after notching a record high earlier in the ￰6￱ ( NKY:IND ) fell 0.84% to below 48,400, while the broader Topix dropped 1.1% to 3,220 on ￰7￱ Japanese yen traded at an eight-month low around 153 per dollar on Friday and was on track to decline nearly 4% for the week, marking its steepest decline since September last year.

Japan’s producer prices rose 2.7% year-on-year in September 2025, keeping the same pace as in the previous month but exceeding market forecasts of 2.5%. Japan’s bank lending rose 3.8% in September 2025, accelerating from a downwardly revised 3.5% gain in August and exceeding market expectations for a 3.7% growth. Japan’s ruling party chief Sanae Takaichi said Thursday that if elected prime minister, she would immediately push for measures to ease the economic impact of rising living ￰8￱ ( SHCOMP ) fell 0.58% to around 3,920, while the Shenzhen Component dropped 0.8% to 13,613 on Friday, giving back part of the prior session’s gains amid soft global ￰9￱ offshore yuan Investors now turn their attention to the Communist Party’s leadership meeting on Oct. 20–23 and a possible Xi-Trump meeting at the APEC summit later this month for new policy ￰10￱ also grew ahead of key Chinese data next week, including September trade figures, CPI and PPI readings, and credit ￰11￱ Donald Trump predicted that China would soon resume purchases of ￰12￱ following his upcoming meeting with President Xi Jinping, despite ongoing trade ￰13￱ Kong ( HSI ) fell 1.38% to 26,501 in early trade on Friday, marking a fifth straight fall and the lowest in near two ￰14￱ ( SENSEX ) rose 0.45% to 82,507 in morning trade on Friday, gaining for the second straight ￰15￱ ( AS51 ) fell 0.13% to around 8,955 in Friday morning trade, reversing the previous session’s gains, as gold and energy stocks dragged the market lower amid easing commodity ￰16￱ Australian dollar appreciated to around $0.657 on Friday, slightly rebounding from a nearly two-week low touched the previous day after RBA Governor Michele Bullock struck cautious remarks.

Australia’s economy is performing well, with inflation within the central bank's 2–3% target range and a tight labor market, Governor Michele Bullock told a parliamentary committee ￰17￱ the ￰18￱ Thursday, all three major indexes ended lower as investors paused to digest optimism around AI, interest-rate cuts, and the ongoing government ￰19￱ futures inched up on Friday after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite retreated from record highs in the prior session: Dow +0.14% ; S&P 500 +0.13% ; Nasdaq +0.17% . Currencies: ( JPY:USD ), ( CNY:USD ), ( AUD:USD ), ( INR:USD ), ( HKD:USD ), ( NZD:USD ). More on Asia: Japan's producer prices rises more than expected in September to 2.7% ￰20￱ 29 companies in China, Turkey, and UAE over Iran military support China tightens export rules for crucial rare earths and related technology Japan services sector expands for sixth month, but jobless rate hits 13-month high Australia’s services sector expands for 20th straight month despite sharp slowdown in September