Asian stocks end week with losses

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Major stock markets in Asia closed with losses on Friday, while European indices were also in the negative territory.

The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, was down 34.16 points, or 0.9%, to 3,742 at 1000GMT. It was also down 4.6% for the week.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 stock exchange decreased 267.9 points, or 0.98%, to 27,013. The index posted a 3.4% decrease this week.

The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, slipped 446.6 points, or 1.84%, to 24,850, while it had a weekly fall of 5.84%.

China's Shanghai stock exchange was down 38.2 points, or 1.1%, to 3,427 points, it slipped 2.5% this week.

In Europe, all major indices posted declines during the last transaction day of the week.

The STOXX Europe 600, which includes around 90% of the market capitalization of the European market in 17 countries, dropped by 0.80 points or 0.17% to 466.44 as of 1000GMT.

London's FTSE 100 was down by 6.62 points or 0.09% to 7,052 and Germany's DAX index was down by 43.81 points or 28% to 15,722 points.

French CAC 40 decreased by 12.56 points or 0.19% to 6,593 points, while Italy's FTSE MIB posted a decline of 117 points, or 0.45%, to 25,811 points.

Spain's IBEX 35 was flat at 8,901, slightly down by 0.40 points.