2017.05.2603:43:00UTC+00Majority of Asian Stocks Lower after OPEC Renewed Output Cut Accord

Most stocks in Asian markets ended lower on Friday, after OPEC agreed to prolong existing output cuts for nine more months during a meeting held in Vienna on Thursday.

The agreement to reduce output by 1.8 million bpd per day, first struck November last year, will now continue until the first quarter of 2018. The output cuts led by OPEC are aimed at rebalancing the market suffering from the global oil glut which has almost halved oil prices in recent years.

Japan's Nikkei 225 ended down 0.35 percent. Meanwhile the Kospi rose 0.62 percent, trading at a record high and notching its sixth straight session of gains.

Markets in main China were mixed. STocks on the Hang Seng Index were mostly unchanged, while the Shanghai Composite rose by 0.06 percent. The Shenzhen Composite trimmed 0.023 percent.

Meanwhile, the dollar firmed versus a basket of currencies to trade at 97.306, pulling away from the lows of 96.880 seen in the prior session. The greenback weakened versus the yen to trade at 111.58.

Commodity currencies nursed losses versus the dollar after the OPEC meeting, with the Aussie dollar trading lower versus the greenback at $0.7426.