Asia stocks trade in red on Friday after a sell-off on Wall Street overnight, as Fed officials signaled caution over future rate cuts. Meantime, fresh data releases from China added pressure to sentiment, with industrial output and retail sales posting their slowest growth in 14 months in October, pointing to weak consumer demand and a deepening property slowdown. Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) fell toward $96,000 on Friday, marking a six-month low amid a broad selloff in risk assets. Gold prices rose above $4,190 per ounce on Friday, heading for their best week in a month, driven by a softer dollar and uncertainty over a backlog of official data following the US government’s reopening. Japan ( NKY:IND ) fell 1.76% to around 50,530 while the broader Topix Index lost 0.9% to 3,350 on Friday, reversing gains from the previous session. China ( SHCOMP ) fell 0.63% to around 4,025, while the Shenzhen Component dropped 0.7% to 13,385 on Friday, trimming gains from the prior session as new Chinese economic data pointed to weak consumer demand and a deepening property slowdown, and the offshore yuan to around 7.09 per dollar on Friday, retreating from a two-week high reached in the previous session as disappointing economic data weighed on market sentiment. China’s economic activity showed mixed signals last month, with industrial output growth slowing to a 14-month low, grew 4.9% year-on-year in October 2025, slowing from a 6.5% increase in the previous month and missing market expectations of 5.5% Retail turnover managed a year-on-year increase of 2.9%, also the slowest pace in 14 months. Meanwhile, labor market conditions saw a minor improvement, with the surveyed jobless rate edging down to 5.1%, a four-month low, missing market expectations that it would hold steady at September’s 5.2%. Fixed-asset investment in the mainland contracted by 1.7% year-on-year during the first ten months of the year. China’s new home prices across 70 cities dropped 2.2% year-on-year in October 2025. Separately, China’s statistics agency acknowledged ongoing external uncertainties and rising domestic structural pressures, but stressed that overall activity in October remained stable. Hong Kong ( HSI ) fell 1.67% to 26,769 in early Friday trade, snapping a five-session advance and pulling back from an over one-month high. India ( SENSEX ) fell 0.31% to 84,181 in early trade on Friday, after ending nearly flat in the previous session and pulling back from a two-week-high. India’s wholesale prices dropped 1.21% year-on-year in October 2025, compared with market expectations of a 0.6% decline and reversing a 0.13% rise in September. India has imposed an anti-dumping duty on steel exported from Vietnam, in a move aimed at curbing the rerouting of Chinese steel through Vietnam, according to sector watchers. Traders also turned cautious ahead of the Bihar election results, scheduled to be announced today. Australia ( AS51 ) fell 1.36% to close at 8,634 on Friday, marking its steepest loss since early September to reach a four-month low. In the U.S. on Thursday, all three major indexes ended lower amid a broad sell-off in AI-linked names and cooling expectations for near-term Fed easing. The United States said on Thursday it will remove tariffs on some foods and other imports from Argentina, Ecuador, Guatemala, and El Salvador under framework agreements designed to give US firms greater access to those markets, Reuters reported. U.S. stock futures stabilized on Friday after the major averages sold off in the previous session: Dow -0.01% ; S&P 500 -0.06% ; Nasdaq -0.14% . Currencies: ( JPY:USD ), ( CNY:USD ), ( AUD:USD ), ( INR:USD ), ( HKD:USD ), ( NZD:USD ). More on Asia: China's factory output hits 14-month low, retail and jobs show slight resilience; fixed-asset investment sees sharpest drop since 2020 China consumer inflation rises 0.2% Y/Y, core CPI hits 20-month high, PPI decline slows China's trade surplus shrinks in October as exports unexpectedly fall combined with a rise in imports China’s factory growth cools to 50.6 in October, export uncertainty rises China's economic slowdown deepens as factory activity hits six-month low to 49.0 in October
