Stocks in Asia were lower on Friday morning following an overnight tumble on Wall Street. Investors are keeping an eye on China's GDP data due Friday morning, which is expected to show growth slipped in the world's second largest economy.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell by 1.5 percent in early trade, while the Topix declined by 1.22 percent.
Over in South Korea, the Kospi also slipped by 0.88 percent minutes after the market open.
The ASX 200 fell 0.79 percent in morning trade, as most sectors trended lower, with the heavily weighted financials subindex seeing a partial recover but remaining lower by 0.54 percent.
There was a selloff in the mainland Chinese markets Thursday, with the Shanghai composite seeing its lowest point since November 2014 in the morning.
Amid concerns over the ongoing trade war between Washington and Beijing, China is set to release its GDP figures for the third quarter of 2018 as well as industrial production numbers for the month of September later at 10 a.m. HK/SIN (10 p.m. ET Thursday).
"The combination of slower global economic growth, ongoing US-China geopolitical/trade concerns and the increased likelihood the FOMC raises the funds rate by more than is currently discounted (75bps over the next 12 months) is weighing on investment sentiment," Elias Haddad, senior currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said in a morning note.
China's Ministry of Commerce announced on Thursday that foreign direct investment into the country increased by 2.9 percent in the first nine of months of 2018 to 636.7 billion yuan (approx. $91.8 billion).
Overnight on Wall Street, stocks saw steep declines and continued their generally poor performance for the month of October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 327.23 points to 25,379.45, while the S&P 500 slipped by 1.4 percent to 2,768.78 and the Nasdaq Composite shed 2.1 percent to close at 7,485.14.
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, surged by 15.29 percent to 20.06 on Thursday. Last week, the index saw its highest level since February. The VIX measures implied volatility on S&P 500 index options.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, was at 95.965 in the morning following an overnight rally from above the 95.6 mark.
The Japanese yen was at 112.22 against the dollar after strengthening from levels above 112.5 yesterday. The Australian dollar was at $0.7092, following a decline from levels above 0.714 overnight.
In the oil markets, prices saw an increase in the morning of Asian trade. The global benchmark Brent crude futures contract rose by 0.28 percent at $79.51 per barrel, while the U.S. crude futures contract saw gains of 0.2 percent at $68.79 per barrel.
Here is a look at the data being released in the trading day ahead:
- China — GDP for the third quarter of 2018, industrial production, fixed asset investment, retail sales at 10 a.m. HK/SIN.
— Reuters contributed to this report.
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