Asian stocks trade mixed despite overnight gains on Wall Street

• Asian stocks waver, contradicting Wall Street's solid performance on Thursday. 
• Dismal China consumer spending data is likely hurting the Asian markets.

Asian stocks were set to track the US equity markets higher on Friday. So far, however, major Asian markets have witnessed mixed action. 

While Japan’s Nikkei and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 are up over 0.20% at press time, stocks in China are flat lined, while those in Hong Kong and South Korea are reporting moderate losses. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose over 1.5% or 337 points on Thursday as optimism emanating from heightened prospects of additional US fiscal stimulus overshadowed the dismal weekly jobless claims data.

Asian markets, however, are struggling to follow suit, possibly due signs of uneven recovery in China, the world’s second-largest economy. While Industrial Production rose 3.9% year-on-year in April, beating the estimate of a 1.5% gain, consumer spending, as represented by Retail Sales, fell by 7.5% compared to the forecast for a 7% decline. 

Also, White House Adviser Larry Kudlow was out on the wires in early Asia, stating that the Trump administration is not leaning towards general massive infusion of money and is more inclined to provide targeted stimulus to states hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Kudlow’s comments dashed hopes of another major stimulus package and could have taken the wind out of the risky assets. 

Looking forward, the bulls are likely to remain at bay due to the fading prospects of another flood-like stimulus and concerns that reopening of economies could  pave the way for a second wave of virus infections.