Asian stocks show mixed performance as week wraps up

Asian stocks opened with a mixed performance on Friday as Japanese, Chinese and Australian stocks rose, while the New Zealand, South Korean Kospi and Hong Kong's stocks fell, ahead of the release of many important economic data about the Chinese economy.

Yesterday, we followed news about a sabotage attack at two oil tankers in the Sea of ​​Oman, followed by the United States accusation to Iran of being behind the incident and Washington promised to retaliate in the case of proof against Tehran. The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for a transparent investigation of those incidents by the Security Council, which has supported oil prices that have been falling recently to its lowest in five months on concerns about weak global demand amidst trade tensions between Washington and Beijing.

Japanese stocks rose during today's trading session, with the broader Topix index rising by 0.25% (3.79 points) up to the level of 1,545.29, Nikkei 225 index rose 0.25% (52.98 points) up to the level of 21,084.98.

China's benchmark stock index rose by 0.22% (7.95 points) up to 3,693.34. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.09% and gained 2.56 points to reach 2,913.30.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.36% (98.94 points) to 27,195.77. South Korea's Kospi Index fell 0.25%, shedding 5.16 points to 2,097.99.

To New Zealand's NZX 50 index which fell by 0.13% (13.78 points) and reach 10,210.03. On the other hand, S&P/ASX 200 index of Australian shares rose by 0.14% (8.90 points) to reach the level of 6,551.30.