MW: Asian stocks trade mixed; BHP, MUFG fall more than 5%
By Chris Oliver
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Asian stocks traded mixed to lower early Friday, with the financial sector under pressure in Tokyo, while commodity stocks also retreated in the wake of overnight falls in crude-oil prices. Among stocks on the decline, BHP Billiton's shares were down 5.2%, while Mitsubishi UFJ Group slumped 5.4%. Shares of Nomura Holdings were up 3.2% after the broker, Japan's largest, announced Thursday it will cut up to 1,000 jobs to slim payroll costs following its acquisition of some of the operations of now-defunct Lehman Brothers Inc. January crude-oil futures were down 2 cents at $43.65 a barrel. Among indexes, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.5% at 3,515.10, Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 0.4% at 7,955.62, South Korea's Kospi added 0.6% at 1,012.02 and New Zealand NZSX-50 eased 0.2%% to 2,726.52.
