Asia markets mostly up but traders on edge after losses

Pedestrians walk in front of an electronic stocks indicator showing the numbers on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in the window of a securities company in Tokyo on Nov 16, 2017. (Photo: AFP/Toshifumi Kitamura)

Prices have been falling for much of the week as the sharp gains of October and early November led to profit-taking and worries about high valuations, while US lawmakers' tax reform struggles are also dampening sentiment.

Eyes are on Washington as Republicans from each chamber of Congress provide differing plans to overhaul the tax system, raising concerns they will not be able to push anything through before the end of the year, as Donald Trump had hoped.

The most recent idea in the Senate is to repeal the Obamacare individual mandate as part of the plan, leading to speculation the legislation could collapse in the same way as their healthcare reforms.

"This is a classic omnibus political stunt to get an unattractive piece of legislation passed by stapling it to something that is likely to get passed," Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at AxiTrader, said.

"But, given that such a move was already expressly voted down on the floor of the Senate, and taking into account resistance from House Republicans it may have just made the President's Christmas timetable a little harder to meet."

Failure of the bill could hit world equities, which have rallied on the back of hopes the market-friendly measures would be introduced.

On Wall Street all three indexes were sharply lower a week after posting record highs.

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Tokyo, which had fallen for six straight days after hitting a 25-year high on Tuesday, jumped 1.5 per cent, while Hong Kong added 0.6 per cent.

Sydney was 0.2 per cent up, Seoul added 0.7 per cent and Wellington and Jakarta were well up.

However, Shanghai lost 0.1 per cent and Singapore shed 0.8 per cent.

With oil prices creeping up slightly energy firms in Asia were mixed following this week's big losses in the commodity.

Hong Kong-listed CNOOC was up 0.7 per cent but PetroChina shed 0.4 per cent, while Inpex in Tokyo lost almost two per cent and Sydney-listed Rio Tinto ticked up.

Crude plummeted on Tuesday and Wednesday after the International Energy Agency (IEA) cut its forecast for crude consumption for next year. That was compounded by data pointing to a rise in US stockpiles.

While official figures Wednesday showed the increase in reserves was not as big as expected, investors remain on edge, and there are also worries an OPEC-Russia output cut might not be extended.

"It sounds like there is some discourse between OPEC and non-OPEC in terms of not committing to something at the end of the month, and maybe kicking the can down the road," Nick Holmes, an analyst at US-based Tortoise Capital Advisors LLC, told Bloomberg News.

In early European trade London rose 0.1 per cent, while Paris and Frankfurt each gained 0.4 per cent.

- Key figures around 0720 GMT -

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.5 per cent at 22,351.12 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: UP 0.6 per cent at 29,018.76 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.1 per cent at 3,399.25 (close)

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.1 per cent at 7,379.82

Euro/dollar: DOWN at US$1.1777 from US$1.1800 at 2150 GMT

Dollar/yen: UP at ¥113.09 from ¥112.85

Pound/dollar: UP at US$1.3170 from US$1.3168

Oil - West Texas Intermediate: UP three cents at US$55.36 per barrel

Oil - Brent North Sea: UP 11 cents at US$61.98

New York - DOW: DOWN 0.6 per cent at 23,271.28 (close)