Asia Shares Fall Over Concerns About Global Growth

Shares in Asia fell Friday as worries resurfaced about the uncertain direction of global economic growth.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average was down 0.5%, Korea's Kospi lost 0.4%, and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 retreated 1%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.8%. China's mainland stock markets were closed Friday in observance of a public holiday.

Stocks across the Asia-Pacific region generally have risen over the past month. The MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan Index, a broad gauge of shares in the region, is on track to score a fourth-straight week of gains.

But the optimism that had propelled stocks higher across the region seems to be dissipating, as investors become more concerned about slowing U.S. and global economic growth. Earlier this week, the World Bank revised its global economic growth forecast this year to 2.4% from the 2.9% projection in January.

"After the rally for the earlier part of June, I think it has started to come off a little bit now, particularly as the [U.S. dollar] starts to strengthen as well," said Alex Wijaya, senior sales trader at CMC Markets.

A stronger U.S. dollar tends to pressure commodities prices, which then weigh on shares of commodities producers in the Asia region. Miners and steel producers were down Friday, with BHP Billiton Ltd. down 4.2% and Rio Tinto down 2.9% in Australia. In Japan, Sumitomo Metal Mining fell 3.6%, and Kobe Steel dropped 4.2%.

Investors in Asia also appear unwilling to make big bets in the uncertainty before U.K. voters decide June 23 whether Britain should stay in the European Union, Mr. Wijaya said.

Meanwhile, falling share prices in South Korea added to Thursday's losses. Bank of Korea officials surprised markets Thursday by unanimously cutting interest rates to a fresh record low of 1.25%.

In other markets, several Asian government bond yields fell this week, a sign that investors were moving money into sovereign bonds. For instance, the yield on South Korea's 10-year government bond was hovering at a record low of 1.65%. Indonesia's 10-year government bond yield was 7.58%, the lowest since late April.

The price of gold rose overnight but slid 0.3% in early Asian trading hours to $1,270 per troy ounce.

Brent crude was recently trading at $51.84 per barrel.

Kosaku Narioka contibuted to this article.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 10, 2016 00:25 ET (04:25 GMT)

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