China's weak Q3 casts pall over most of Asia-Pacific

THURSDAY'S developments - UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson striking a Brexit deal with the European Union and Wall Street posting strong earnings - could have guided sentiment towards a positive end to the week.

Instead, growth issues were the chief concern after China's Q3 gross domestic product (GDP) print missed estimates, hitting its weakest reading since 1992 as growth slowed to 6 per cent. The figure is on the weaker end of the government's 2019 forecast of 6.0 to 6.5 per cent.

On Friday, the Straits Times Index (STI) opened 0.1 per cent lower, and built on losses during the session to close at 3,114.16, skidding 11.98 points or 0.4 per cent.