Asia’s benchmark stock index fell for the first time in four days as Chinese shares slid on concern funding costs for lenders will remain high even after the central bank injected liquidity. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose as the yen reached a five-year low.
Nikkei 225 15,870.42 +11.20 +0.07%
Hang Seng 22,812.18 -76.57 -0.33%
S&P/ASX 200 5,265.22 +62.99 +1.21%
Shanghai Composite 2,084.79 -43.00 -2.02%
Ping An Insurance Co., China’s second-largest insurer, declined 4.6 percent to lead declines on the Hang Seng Index.
Mazda Motor Corp., a Japanese carmaker that gets 73 percent of sales abroad, climbed 3.5 percent.
Telstra Corp. rose 1.8 percent, pushing Australia’s benchmark index to the biggest weekly gain in almost eight months, after agreeing to sell its Hong Kong mobile phone business.