In Hong Kong, on the other hand, faces are happier. The Hang Seng index is up 0.5 percent.
In Shanghai, which started the first hours down, the composite index is up a whopping 1.4 percent. Shenzhen’s composite index is up 0.3 percent at the same time.
The leading US stock markets recovered somewhat on Friday, after several days in the red as a result of concerns in the banking sector and expected news of interest rate increases by the US central bank.