SYDNEY, NSW, Australia-owned stocks in Asia were on the skids on Friday, although the Nikkei 225 gained ground in Japan after being closed for most of the week.
Richard Martin, a business consultant and managing director at IMA Asia, told CNBC's Street Signs Asia on Friday that we're very influenced by what the U.S. Fed does and the U.S. economy in Asia, but now we're facing the zero-Covid problem from China.
In addition to the weak demand from China, a shortage of components will stop factories in Asia, according to Martin, the supply side of China is going to have a shortage of components from China.
The Australian All Ordinaries were down 175.00 points or 2.29 percent to close Friday at 7,464. In New Zealand, the S&P NZX 50 dropped 138.22 points or 1.18 percent to 11,609. The Shanghai Composite plunged 66.20 points or 2.16 percent to 3,001 in mainland China. The Skey index was down 3.45 percent at the time of writing, with Hong Kong trading still in progress.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 advanced 185.03 points or 0.69 percent to close Friday at 27,003. The U.S. dollar was steady to stronger during Asian trading. The euro was at 1.0515 and held the 1.0500 level at the end of the day. The British pound was weak at 1.2336. The Swiss franc was down to 0.9861.
The Canadian dollar was little changed at 1.2840. The Australian dollar fell to 0.7093. Overnight on Wall Street, the Nasdaq Composite had a major sell-off, falling 647.16 points or 4.99 percent to 12,317. The Dow Jones Industrials were down 1,063 at the end of the day. It was a 3.12 percent gain to 32,997, or 09 points or 3.12 percent. The Standard and Poor's 500 dropped 153.30 points or 2.56 percent to 4,146.