Business News

HONG KONG, (APP/AFP): South Korean stocks and
the won led most Asian markets lower Friday after the North conducted another nuclear test, while trading was also hit by worries over global central bank policy easing.
Pyongyang said it had conducted a “successful” fifth nuclear test, which South Korea said was its largest-ever.
Seoul’s KOSPI was down 1.5 percent in the afternoon while a Bank of Korea decision not to cut interest rates was unable to prevent the won sinking 0.8 percent.
The losses led a sell-off around most of the region with Sydney and
Singapore each down 0.9 percent, while there were also sharp falls in Taipei, Jakarta and Manila.
However, Japan’s Nikkei recovered from early losses to sit 0.1 percent higher.
Adding to downward pressure were worries about central bank inaction in dealing with a slowdown in the global economy.
On Thursday, the European Central Bank opted against fresh stimulus, with its president Mario Draghi calling for “patience” to see the effect of vast amounts of cash already injected into the system.
While he had not been expected to announce any action, there was
disappointment Draghi did not provide any forward guidance, while some analysts said the bank was possibly planning new measures as its bond-buying programme reaches runs out of assets to buy.
Tokyo-based dealers are also concerned at the lack of movement from Japan’s central bank ahead of a policy meeting later this month, despite another weak growth reading Thursday and a general malaise across the economy.