Asian stock markets are mixed following the lackluster cues from Wall Street, amid optimism about the likelihood of near-term interest rate cuts by the US Fed. The Australian stock market is modestly lower, falling below the 7,600 level, with losses across most sectors led by gold miners and technology stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 23.30 points to 7,591.00. Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are all edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent. The Aussie dollar is trading at $0.684.

Adding to the losses in the previous session, the Japanese stock market is modestly lower after opening in the green. Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.3 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing more than 1 percent. In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging up 0.3 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is adding almost 1 percent. The U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 141 yen-range on Friday. South Korea is gaining 1.6 percent, while China and Singapore are up 0.4 and 0.9 percent, respectively. Hong Kong and Indonesia is lower by 0.3 percent each. New Zealand, Malaysia and Taiwan are relatively flat.

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a lackluster performance during trading on Thursday, with the Nasdaq and Dow ending narrowly mixed. The major European markets moved to the downside. Crude oil had prices fall sharply Thursday on easing concerns about trade disruptions, with West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ending down $2.34 or 3 percent to $71.77 a barrel.

Read more: Asian Markets Trading Mixed | Nasdaq