South Korea’s Kospi hits new high as trade talks continue

South Korea’s Kospi hit a record high for a third straight day on Friday as trade talks with the US continued, offsetting wider losses in Asia.

The Kospi was the only market in positive territory, touching an intraday high of 3,794.87. Meanwhile, the Kosdaq gave up previous gains, falling near the flat line.

Other Asia-Pacific markets traded weaker, tracking losses on Wall Street as fears about the banking sector and trade tensions intensified.

Shares of regional banks and an investment bank Jeffries fell on Thursday in the US as fears mounted over some bad loans lurking in the US

Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. fell 1.35% on Friday. Chip heavyweight reported a rise in earnings for the third quarter after the Taiwan market closed on Thursday.

of Hong Kong Hang Seng Index fell 1.6%, led by losses in Asia and dragged down by education and technology stocks.

In particular, a Chinese car manufacturer BYDshares fell about 2.5% afterward Reuters reported that the automaker will conduct its largest ever recall of 115,000 vehicles due to design defects and battery-related issues.

The mainland’s CSI 300 was down 1.27%.

of Japan Nikkei 225 lost 1.32%, while the broader Topix fell 0.94%.

of Australia S&P/ASX 200 down 0.78%.

Singapore’s domestic exports, excluding oil, posted a sharp recovery in September, jumping 6.9 percent from a year earlier, defying expectations for a 2.1 percent decline and reversing an 11.3 percent decline in August.

U.S. stock futures were slightly lower on Thursday evening stateside after the previous session saw a sell-off fueled by concerns about the lending practices of regional banks.

Overnight in the USA, on Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 301.07 points, or nearly 0.7%, to close at 45,952.24. Earlier in the day, the index of the 30 exchanges gained 170 points.

The S&P 500 ended 0.6% lower at 6,629.07, giving up a 0.6% gain on session highs. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.5% to 22,562.54.

— CNBC’s Liz Napolitano, Pia Singh and Alex Haring contributed to this report.