Asian markets: China Shanghai Composite slides following negative Wall Street close overnight

Most Asian stock market indices were trading lower on Friday, 22 April, including China's Shanghai Composite Index which was down 0.41% at 2,940.82 at 5.40am GMT. This followed a negative Wall Street close overnight amid weak revenues reported by some US companies.

JJ Kinahan, chief strategist at TD Ameritrade, an online broking company, said: "The S&P 500 is definitely weighed on by United, Travelers and Verizon. You have a few stocks that have had oversized (impact)." While Travelers, the American insurance company, reported earnings were down 10% from a year-ago, Verizon reported revenues that missed estimates.

The slide in Asian stocks comes after they touched their five and a half month high recently. Norihiro Fujito, senior investment analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, explained: "Essentially, global shares and commodities have been rallying since US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen had indicated a dovish stance in March. But you would need more improvement in economic fundamentals for the rally to go further. The S&P 500 is quite overvalued, trading at 17.8 times the forecast profits. Disappointing earnings from hi-tech companies will surely cap the market."

Indices in the rest of Asia traded as follows on 22 April at 5.58am GMT:

Meanwhile, overnight (21 April), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 17,982.52, down 0.63%, while the FTSE 100 closed lower by 0.45% at 6,381.44.

Oil performed better than shares. On 22 April, WTI crude oil was trading 1.51% higher at $43.83 (£30.53, €38.81) a barrel, while Brent was 1.41% higher at $45.16 a barrel at 6.12am GMT.