Asia stock markets today: live updates

Asia-Pacific markets ended the day mostly lower on Friday.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 0.89% to close at 24,858.82, while mainland China’s CSI 300 index decreased by 0.24% to 4,104.97.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 benchmark ended the day 1.85% higher at 41,820.48, while the broader Topix index added 1.21% to 3,024.21.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s Kospi index retreated 0.55% to close at 3,210.01, while the small-cap Kosdaq moved up 0.43% to 809.27.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 benchmark fell 0.28% to end the day at 8,807.10.

Over in India, the benchmark Nifty 50 was down 0.64%, while the BSE Sensex index lost 0.65% as of 2:02 p.m. Indian Standard Time (4:32 a.m. ET).

— Amala Balakrishner

Ethereum extended its gains Friday to hit $3,966.21, a 7-month high.

As of 4:35 p.m. Singapore time (4:35 a.m. ET), the cryptocurrency had gained 0.94% to trade at $3,889.70.

Shares of Toyota Motor pared earlier gains to end the day 3.47% higher Friday, following its first-fiscal quarter earnings announcement on Thursday.

The Japanese automaker’s net income attributable to the company fell 37% 841.3 billion yen ($5.71 billion).

The company revised its full-year operating income forecast down by 600 billion yen to 3.2 trillion yen for its financial year ending in March 2026.

— Amala Balakrishner, Dylan Butts

Indian stocks fell in early trade Friday as investors continued to digest U.S. President Donald Trump’s 50% duties on the South Asian powerhouse.

The 50-stock benchmark Nifty 50 fell 0.31%, while the BSE Sensex index lost 0.18% as of 9:30 a.m. Indian Standard time (12 a.m. ET).

Japanese stocks rose Friday, leading with the blue-chip Nikkei 225 benchmark and broader Topix index rising past the 1% mark.

The increase was led by technology firms, consumer cyclicals, and real estate sectors.

The 225-stock index advanced 2.22% to hit 41,968.68 at 11:45 a.m. local time (10:45 p.m. Thursday ET), while the broader Topix index added 1.65% to 3,037.11, after hitting a record high and crossing the 3,000 threshold for the first time earlier in the session.

Shares of SoftBank Group surged 13% Friday to hit a fresh record, following the company’s higher-than-expected fiscal first-quarter profit.

This marks the Japanese investment firm’s sharpest intra-day spike since 2020, and its best day in nearly five years if the gains hold.

Friday’s session also marks SoftBank’s fourth straight session of gains and comes after it closed at a record high in its previous session, before its earnings release.

Read the full story here.

— Amala Balakrishner

Chinese and Hong Kong stocks started the day lower Friday, amid mixed trade across the key Asia-Pacific markets.

As of 10 a.m. local time (10 p.m. ET Thursday), the Hang Seng Index fell 0.76%, while mainland’s CSI 300 dropped 0.25%.

— Amala Balakrishner

Japan’s Topix index rose for the fourth consecutive session Friday and hit a record high of 3,031.78.

The broad-based index had gained 1.42% as of 10 a.m. local time (9 p.m. ET Thursday),

Gains were led by Nippon Chemical Industrial, which surged 23.06%, investment management firm Miyakoshi Holdings, which rose 22.04%, rent debt provider J-Lease Co which advanced 18.66% and probe card manufacturer Japan Electronic Materials Corp which gained 13.42%.

— Amala Balakrishner

Asia-Pacific markets opened mixed Friday.

As of 8:12 a.m. Singapore time (8:12 p.m. ET Thursday), Japan’s Nikkei 225 benchmark rose 1.18% while the broader Topix index added 0.87%.

In South Korea, the Kospi index fell 0.13% while the small-cap Kosdaq increased by 0.65%.

Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 benchmark was down 0.29%.

— Amala Balakrishner

Good morning from Singapore, and happy Friday.

Investors are awaiting a slew of data from Japan, including its current account balance for June.

The country’s benchmark Nikkei 225 was set to open higher, with the futures contract in Chicago at 41,285 while its counterpart in Osaka last traded at 41,170, against the index’s Thursday close of 41,059.15.

Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 24,876, pointing to a weaker open compared with the HSI’s last close of 25,081.63.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was set to start the day lower with futures tied to the benchmark at 8,757, compared with the index’s last close of 8,831.40.

— Amala Balakrishner

The latest gauge of investor sentiment is rife with uneasiness. Counterintuitively, some market strategists think that could be a bullish sign that forces traders to get back into the market and drive stocks higher.

Bearish individual investor sentiment toward stocks over the next six months rose more than 10 percentage points, the most since February, in the latest weekly survey by the American Association of Individual Investors.

Investor sentiment is viewed by many as a contrarian indicator. The idea is that when investors are bearish, they are more likely to have already sold stocks and have more cash on hand to put to work. And when more are bullish, the reverse is true.

“If the poll is bearish, that is encouraging,” Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research, said in an email to CNBC. “The institutional investor (smart) money tends to look at retail investors as ‘dumb money’ and tends to make near-term price performance projections accordingly.” More here.

— Pia Singh, Scott Schnipper