Stocks fall, Chinese yuan crosses 7 level

Shares in the Asia-Pacific fell Friday as investors digest U.S. economic data and China’s industrial production and retail sales figures for August, which beat expectations.

The Shenzhen Component in mainland China briefly pared some losses after the data release but then extended losses to fall 0.919%, and the Shanghai Composite was 0.96% lower.

The offshore Chinese yuan weakened past 7 against the dollar overnight, and last changed hands at 7.0191.

The onshore yuan also crossed the 7 level in Asia’s morning trade after the People’s Bank of China set the daily midpoint at 6.9305 against the dollar. It was last at 7.0088 per dollar.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.11%, and the Topix index slipped 0.62%.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 1.52%. South Korea’s Kospi shed 1.24% and the Kosdaq lost 1.61%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.42%.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was around 1% lower.

Overnight in the U.S., the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.43% to 11,552.36. The S&P 500 declined 1.13% to 3,901.35 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 173.27 points, or 0.56%, to 30,961.82, its lowest close since July 14.

“Equities and other risk-sensitive markets [will] struggle as it becomes clear that U.S. inflation pressures are well embedded and that risks to the fed funds rate lie to the upside,” ANZ Research analysts wrote in a Friday note.

— CNBC’s Jesse Pound and Tanaya Macheel contributed to this report.