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Asian markets mostly lower

Hong Kong - Asian markets mostly fell on Friday after better-than-forecast US growth data added to expectations the Federal Reserve will start to wind down its stimulus programme as early as this month.

With the strong figures raising the likelihood the central bank will ease up on its bond-buying, the dollar edged up against the yen.

Tokyo rose 0.81%, or 122.37 points, to 15 299.86 on bargain buying after losing more than 3.5% in the previous two sessions, while the weaker yen provided some support. Hong Kong finished 0.13% higher, adding 30.53 points to 23 743.10.

But Sydney lost 0.23%, or 12.0 points, to end at 5 186.0 and Seoul was 0.22% lower, giving up 4.36 points to close at 1 980.41. Shanghai finished 0.44% down, losing 9.96 points to sit at 2 27.11.

Investors followed the lead of their counterparts on Wall Street after the Commerce Department reported the US economy grew 3.6%  in the third quarter, far above the 3.0% predicted by analysts.

The labour department said on Thursday that first-time claims for unemployment benefits, a sign of the pace of layoffs, fell below 300 000 last week.

The figures are the latest pointing to a pick-up in the world's top economy, raising the prospect of the Fed cutting its monetary easing scheme this month instead of early next year as previously flagged by analysts.


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Rand - Dollar
19.02
-0.0%
Rand - Pound
23.79
+0.0%
Rand - Euro
20.40
+0.0%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.43
-0.2%
Rand - Yen
0.12
+0.3%
Platinum
931.40
+0.6%
Palladium
996.00
+0.6%
Gold
2,336.11
+0.2%
Silver
27.56
+0.5%
Brent Crude
89.01
+1.1%
Top 40
68,437
0.0%
All Share
74,329
0.0%
Resource 10
62,119
0.0%
Industrial 25
102,531
0.0%
Financial 15
15,802
0.0%
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