Asian markets mixed as automakers come under pressure after Donald Trump's warning to Toyota

While Asian stock market indices were trading mixed on Friday (6 January), the Shanghai Composite was down 0.15% at 3,160.81 as of 5.26am GMT following automakers coming under pressure after Donald Trump's warning to Toyota.

The US president-elect criticised the Japanese automaker over its plans to build a new car manufacturing plant in Mexico that would make cars for the US market. "Toyota Motor said will build a new plant in Baja, Mexico, to build Corolla cars for U.S. NO WAY! Build plant in US or pay big border tax," Trump posted on Twitter on Thursday.

This had an adverse impact on the share prices of not only Toyota but also other Japanese automakers such as Nissan, Honda, Mazda Motor and Mitsubishi Motors.

The mixed trend in the markets also follows easing of the US dollar and risks associated with higher Fed rates. The dollar is said to have touched a three-week low against a basket of currencies, while the US 10-year yield is said to have dropped to a one-month low.

"The market appears to be on risk-on mode. It could be because of stabilising US yields. It could be signs of stability in Europe, or a recovery in oil. Anything that has been battered by higher US rates is coming back," Yoshinori Shigemi, global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Indices in the region were trading as follows at 5.52am GMT:

On 5 January, the FTSE100 Index closed 0.08% higher at 7,195.31, while the S&P 500 Index closed 0.08% lower at 2,269.00.

Among commodities, oil prices were in the red despite news that Saudi Arabia had cut output as per the Opec agreement. As of 12.44am EST, WTI crude oil was trading 0.15% lower at $53.68 (£43.36) a barrel, while Brent crude was trading 0.16% lower at $56.80 a barrel.