Stocks in Asia were mixed overnight with the Nikkei (^N225) slumping 2.5% on the day in Japan, while the Hang Seng (^HSI) jumped 2.6% in Hong Kong.
The Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) was flat by the end of the session after data showed that China’s exports increased 8.6% last month, beating market expectations.
It came as the yen swung between losses and gains in volatile trading after Tokyo was believed to have intervened in propping up the Japanese currency amid a cooler-than-expected US inflation report.
Moves in the yen against the dollar and other major currencies stole the spotlight on Friday as surged nearly 3% against the US greenback at one point after the release of the figures.
The dollar was last 0.1% higher at 159.10 yen, after rising more than 0.3% to an intraday high of 159.45 yen and falling 0.7% to a low of 157.75 yen in early trading. It ended the session with a 1.7% loss against the yen, its largest daily decline since May.
Across the pond on Wall Street, Big Tech shares spiralled downwards, as traders piled into smaller companies.
The Dow Jones (^DJI) rose just 0.1% to 39,753.75 while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) lost 0.9% to close at 5,584.54. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) lost 2% during the session.
The Russell 2000 index of small cap US companies rose 3.6%, fuelled by expectations of interest rate cuts that would increase small cap profits.
The yield on benchmark 10-year US Treasury bonds fell to 4.21%, from 4.28% late on Wednesday.
