South Korea stocks lead declines in Asia as its industrial production contracts in October; China up 2%

Lim Hui Jie

Asia-Pacific markets mostly lost ground on Friday, led by losses in South Korean stocks after its industrial production declined for a second straight month in October.

South Korea’s industrial production growth fell 0.3% last month compared to September, which also saw a 0.3% fall on a month-on-month basis.

Industrial production saw a 2.3% increase year on year in October, marking a reversal from the 1.3% fall in September.

The country’s benchmark index, Kospi, fell 1.29% while the small-cap Kosdaq dropped 1.87%.

In contrast, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index bucked the trend and gained 1.29%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 was 2% up, leading gains in Asia.

The moves come as a Reuters poll said China’s home prices are expected to fall at a slower pace this year and next, and stabilize in 2026, as support measures are starting to take effect.

Separately, investors also assessed November inflation numbers from Japan’s capital of Tokyo, which saw its headline inflation rate come in at 2.6%, a rebound from the 1.8% seen in October.

Core inflation, which excludes costs of fresh food, rose to 2.2% compared with Reuters poll expectations of 2.1%.

Tokyo’s inflation numbers are widely considered to be a leading indicator of nationwide trends.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.42% after the inflation data release, while the broad-based Topix was 0.2% lower.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.14%.

U.S. markets were closed for Thanksgiving on Thursday, and will be open only for a half day on Friday.

India’s economy is forecast to post slowest quarterly growth since March 2023 quarter

India’s economy is forecast to expand by 6.5% in its second fiscal quarter, according to economists polled by Reuters.

Should the figure prove accurate, the country would see its slowest year-on-year quarterly growth since the quarter ended March 2023.

India’s economy had expanded by 6.7% in the first fiscal quarter.

The 6.5% estimate is below the Reserve Bank of India’s forecast of 7% made in October.

The RBI had said after their October monetary policy meeting that the agriculture sector was expected to perform well in 2024, while also noting sustained momentum in consumer spending and an improvement in consumer and business confidence.

Agriculture makes up over 18% of India’s GDP.

— Lim Hui Jie

Australia grants interim approval for Virgin-Qatar Airways partnership

Australia’s competition watchdog said on Friday that it had granted Qatar Airways and Virgin Australia interim authorization top operate under an integrated alliance that would allow Virgin to use Qatar Airways’ aircraft and crew.

“Under the interim authorization, Virgin Australia and Qatar Airways can commence marketing and selling 28 weekly scheduled return flights between Doha and Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney,” the  Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said. Flights from Perth are expected to begin in November 2025.

The government still needs to approve these new services. However, the commitment approved by the ACCC today guarantees that if final regulatory approval is not granted, customers who have already booked these proposed new services will be protected.

—Lee Ying Shan

Yen appreciates to strongest level in five weeks against greenback

The Japanese yen appreciated to its strongest level in about five weeks, at under 150 against the U.S. dollar on Friday.

The move comes after inflation in Japan’s capital city of Tokyo accelerated in November, which could support the case for a rate hike by the Bank of Japan in its December meeting.

The headline inflation rate in Japan’s capital climbed to 2.6% from 1.8%, while core inflation came in at 2.2%, above expectations of 2.1% from economists polled by LSEG.

— Lim Hui Jie

India competition watchdog to investigate Google’s gaming app policy

India’s competition watchdog on Thursday ordered a probe into Google’s restrictive policies for real-money games on its platform, following a complaint by online gaming platform WinZO that called it discriminatory.

The move compounds Google’s regulatory headaches in India, where it has already been hit with at least two penalties for abusing its dominant position in the Android operating system market.

Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment made after working hours in India and with the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States.

WinZO, which offers real-money games, first approached the Competition Commission of India in 2022, after a change in the U.S. company’s gaming app policy continued to exclude WinZO from Google’s Play Store, even as it accepted some of its competitors.

— Reuters

CNBC Pro: 7 stocks to buy before the year-end, according to the pros

As investors prepare their portfolios for 2025, Wall Street’s finest have identified several European companies they believe offer significant growth potential despite market uncertainties.

Morgan Stanley downgraded European equities to neutral earlier this year. Yet, they suggest “Europe is a stock picker’s market” now since equities on the continent have begun to diverge from each other in terms of performance.

Meanwhile, investment firm Bernstein’s top 10 picks outperformed the MSCI Europe Small index by 5 percentage points since the end of October.

— Ganesh Rao

How to ‘tariff-hedge’ your European portfolio, according to TS Lombard

As Europe faces the prospect of tariffs on its exports to the United States, TS Lombard has advised investors in the region on how to “tariff-hedge” their portfolios.

In a note this week, Davide Oneglia, director of European and global macro at TS Lombard, advised European investors to address their “tariff risk” by looking at their exposure “in the way Donald Trump … does, i.e. in terms of the USD value of the U.S. deficit/surplus in goods by country and sector.”

He suggested three key ways investors could protect their portfolios.

— Holly Ellyatt

Source : cnbc