Asian markets dip at end of volatile week, oil rises

Hong Kong - Asian stock markets turned negative on Friday as investors took profits following losses in New York and Europe, although crude prices rallied again on lingering hopes for a deal to limit output.

The losses across trading floors came at the end of a volatile week that started with sharp selling in response to news of the collapse of talks aimed at addressing a global crude supply glut.

But optimism over the Chinese economy and soothing comments from the US that interest rates will not go up before June have helped push world markets higher to multi-month highs.

On Friday, traders decided to take their cash off the table.

Tokyo was 0.1% lower by the break, Hong Kong shed 0.7%, Shanghai eased 0.1% and Seoul was 0.3% off. Sydney was marginally lower and Singapore gave back 0.6%.

On Thursday, European Central Bank boss Mario Draghi sought to reassure markets over the eurozone economy by saying it would unleash further stimulus measures "if warranted" to kick-start growth and inflation.

He also dismissed German criticism that its negative interest rate policy is hurting savers and banks, and insisted its benefits would take time to unfold.

However, Matthew Sherwood, head of investment strategy at Perpetual in Sydney, told Bloomberg News: "Things look better in the US, but central bank policy in Europe and Japan appears increasingly deflationary and the prospect for strong economic recovery in emerging markets is still hard to fathom."

Oil prices rallied 1.5% in Asia, building on a strong week, after the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Secretary-General Abdalla El-Badri said the group of exporters would again consider talks on freezing output and probably hold further negotiations with other nations.

Reports that Iraq is pushing for new talks after the collapse of the Doha gathering on Sunday also provided strong support.

The Doha meeting fell apart after kingpin Saudi Arabia pulled out owing to bitter rival Iran's refusal to impose output limits. Tehran said it was still in the process of raising production after the removal of nuclear-linked Western sanctions in January.

In Tokyo, car maker Mitsubishi dived as much as 16% at one point after it admitted cheating on fuel-efficiency tests.

Panic-selling in the past two days had already sent the share price tumbling by a third, wiping about $2.5bn off its market value - marking the worst three-day decline since its 1988 listing.