TGIF? Not For Overseas Investors As Asian, European Stocks Mostly Lower

Asian stocks were mostly lower on Friday following Thursday's tumble in reaction to the Bank of Japan standing pat on its stimulus program. Japanese stocks were closed for a national holiday but still close the week lower by more than 5 percent.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 1.50 percent, Taiwan's TSEC index lost 1.13 percent and China's Shanghai Composite index lost 0.25 percent.

Australia's ASX index gained 0.50 percent and was supported by energy and materials sub-indexes. India's Mumbai Sensex index inched higher by 0.01 percent.

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European stock indices were for the most part unanimously in the red after the Euro zone as a whole reported its GDP rose 0.6 percent quarter-on-quarter in the first three months of the year - exceeding analyst expectations for a 0.4 percent growth.

However, inflation in the Eurozone fell to negative 0.2 percent in April, a blow to the region's central bank which has been battling to push the inflation rate towards its 2 percent target.

France's CAC index was among the worst performers, down 1.74 percent. Germany's DAX inded lost 1.34 percent and the UK's FTSE index was lower by 0.83 percent.

Meanwhile, the price of oil hit a fresh 2016 high Friday morning due to a weakened U.S. dollar and declining production in the U.S. The price of a barrel of crude oil was trading around $46.54 while Brent crude futures were trading at $48.40.

Posted In: NewsGlobalPre-Market OutlookMarketsAsian StocksEuropean stocksEurozone Inflationoil prices
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