Business

Asian Friday’s stock markets move back

Mahmoud Elassal1

Marketbenchmarks in Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul and Sydney all declined. MajorAsian markets jumped more than 2% on Thursday.

Hong Kong'sHang Seng index fell 0.6% to 27,320.42 and the Shanghai Composite Index was off0.2% at 2,861.72. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 lost 0.2% to 23,827.98.

The Kospi inSeoul sank 0.7% to 2,211.95 and Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 lost 0.4% to 7,022.60,AP reported.

BenchmarkU.S. crude gained 27 cents to $51.22 per barrel in electronic trading on theNew York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 20 cents on Thursday to closeat $50.95. Brent crude, used to price international oils, added 34 cents to$55.27 per barrel in London. It fell 35 cents the previous session to $54.93.

The dollardeclined to 109.95 yen from Thursday's 109.97 yen. The euro rose to $1.0982from $1.0979.