Asian stocks mixed after listless Wall Street day

Traders Jeffrey Vazquez, left, and Frank Masiello confer on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, April 11, 2019. U.S. stocks moved slightly higher in morning trading Thursday as investors prepare for the latest round of corporate earnings. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

BEIJING — Asian stock markets were mostly higher Friday after a mixed Wall Street close on listless trading.

Benchmarks in Tokyo, Sydney and Seoul rose. Shanghai and Hong Kong declined as investors watched for Chinese trade data.

Traders were hoping for a “good set of figures” from Beijing following unexpectedly strong March manufacturing and inflation data, said Jingyi Pan of IG in a report.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index rose 0.6% to 21,847.66 while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.4% to 3,175.84.

Seoul’s Kospi advanced 0.2% to 2,228.94 and Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 added 0.2% to 6,240.70.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.4% to 29,732.20 and India’s Sensex gained 0.2% to 38,683.33.

New Zealand advanced while Taiwan and Southeast Asian markets declined.

Major U.S. stock indexes closed unevenly Thursday after losses in health care stocks mostly offset gains in industrial companies and banks.

Major European indexes closed mostly higher.

On Wall Street, the Standard & Poor’s 500 added less than 0.1% to 2,888.32. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1%, to 26,143.05. The Nasdaq composite slid 0.2%, to 7,947.36.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude gained 28 cents to $63.86 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract dropped $1.03 on Thursday to close at $63.58. Brent crude, used to price international oils, added 26 cents to $71.09 per barrel in London. It fell 90 cents the previous session to $70.83.

CURRENCY: The dollar gained to 111.76 yen from Thursday’s 111.66 yen. The euro rose to $1.1290 from $1.1257. /gsg