06:35 AM EDT, 05/17/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Asian stock markets were divided on Friday, with China's exchanges gaining on the outlook for property-sector support from Beijing while other regional stock markets fell on signals from New York.

Hong Kong and Shanghai finished in the green, while Tokyo and other regional exchanges declined.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 opened lower on overnight Wall Street cues and could not recover, finishing off 0.3% as traders also weighed earnings season results.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 132.88 to 38,787.38, although gaining issues outnumbered losers 120 to 104.

Leading the upside was Japan Steel Works, up 7%, while Sumitomo Pharma declined 5.3%.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index opened higher, wobbled, but finished up 1% after Beijing announced another round of measures to support the nation's flagging residential property markets. Traders also weighed a raft of economic releases.

The broad gauge Hang Seng rose 177.08 to 19,553.61 as gaining issues outnumbered losers 53 to 24. The Hang Seng TECH Index gained 1% on the day, while the Mainland Properties Index jumped 5.3%.

Leading the upside was property developer Longfor, adding 10.9%, while Xinyi Solar fell 8%.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite rose 1% to 3,154.03.

In economic news, China's industrial output rose 6.7% on the year in April, but retail sales posted up only 2.3% on the year, reported the National Bureau of Statistics, underlining concerns that consumers will not boost the nation's economy in 2024. China's unemployment rate was 5% in April, and house prices continued to decline in the month, according to official data.

In other news, Beijing announced additional measures to boost its flagging property sector, with the People's Bank of China indicating $138 billion in extra funding for residential real estate, while also easing mortgage rules.

On the other regional exchanges, the S. Korean KOSPI fell 1%; the Taiwan TWSE declined 0.2%; the Australian ASX 200 declined 0.9%; the Singapore Straits Times Index rose 0.3%, and the Thai Set inclined 0.4%. In late trading in Mumbai, the Sensex was up 0.3%.