Asia markets track Wall St. lower on regional bank fears, US-China tensions

Asia stocks trade mostly lower on Friday, tracking the Wall Street decline, as renewed concerns over US regional banks and trade tensions weighed on ￰0￱ also watched rising geopolitical risks, with Trump warning that the US is “in a trade war now” and threatening further tariffs on ￰1￱ third week of the US government shutdown added further uncertainty, delaying key economic data and contributing to a choppy market ￰2￱ Trump announced Thursday plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest, Hungary, to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, following what he called a "very productive call" with ￰3￱ hovered all-time highs above $54 per ounce on Friday and was poised to gain about 8% for the ￰4￱ climbed to around $4,360 per ounce on Friday, climbing back toward the fresh record it set earlier and on track for a sharp weekly advance, the strongest since March ￰5￱ Korea’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate edged down to 2.5% in September 2025 from 2.6% in August, returning to July’s ￰6￱ ( NKY:IND ) fell 1.38% to below 47,800, while the broader Topix Index slipped 0.8% to 3,177 on Friday, ending a two-day winning ￰7￱ Japanese yen firmed to around 150.3 per dollar on Friday, nearing two-week ￰8￱ of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said Thursday the central bank will closely examine a range of data—including insights gathered during his Washington visit—before deciding whether to raise interest rates in ￰9￱ the domestic front, Japan’s two major political parties, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Constitutional Democratic Party, have reached a broad agreement to hold a parliamentary vote on October 21 to select the next prime minister, according to Kyodo ￰10￱ ( SHCOMP ) fell 1.17% to below 3,890, while the Shenzhen Component sank 1.9% to 12,840 on Friday, with mainland shares poised to end the week lower as escalating US-China trade tensions weighed on ￰11￱ the latest update, China accused the US of exaggerating its rare earth export controls, calling the resulting “panic” unnecessary while signaling openness to trade ￰12￱ remain cautious ahead of China’s fourth plenum (Oct. 20–23), where the 2026–2030 five-year plan will be ￰13￱ are also bracing for upcoming data in China: September industrial output, retail sales, Q3 GDP, and a monthly fixing on ￰14￱ Kong ( HSI ) fell 1.76% to 25,540 in early Friday deals, down for the second day as all sectors ￰15￱ ( SENSEX ) rose 0.43% The Indian rupee hovered around 88 per USD on Friday, trading sideways near four-week highs, but poised for its strongest weekly gain since late ￰16￱ International Monetary Fund revised Asia’s economic growth forecast upward on Thursday to 4.5% in 2025, an increase of 0.6 percentage points from its estimate in April, though slowing from 4.6% last year.

Meanwhile, investors weighed mixed signals in US-India trade ￰17￱ ( AS51 ) fell 0.81% to below 9,035 in early Friday trading, retreating from the prior session's record high, as losses in energy, tech shares, and miners offset gains in gold ￰18￱ Australian dollar weakened to around $0.647 on Friday, extending losses from the previous ￰19￱ the ￰20￱ Thursday, all three major indexes ended lower as worries over bad loans at regional banks and persistent US-China trade tensions weighed on ￰21￱ futures edged lower on Friday as concerns over bad loans at regional banks pressured sentiment: Dow -0.32% ; S&P 500 -0.45% ; Nasdaq -0.48% . Currencies: ( JPY:USD ), ( CNY:USD ), ( AUD:USD ), ( INR:USD ), ( HKD:USD ), ( NZD:USD ).

More on Asia: Australia jobless rate rises to 4.5% in Sept; employment growth misses estimates China CPI falls beyond forecast amid steeper food price; PPI deflation continues for 36th month China's exports surge to six-month high, driving September trade surplus to $90.45B Stock index futures rebound as Trump downplays China rift Japan's producer prices rises more than expected in September to 2.7%