Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Friday as investors sought out safe-haven assets on growing fears that conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East could sap global growth, extending losses after U.S. President Obama said he had authorized air strikes in Iraq. Better-than-expected export growth from China pulled markets off their lows, but failed to offset all the gloom. Further, the Japanese stock market is down sharply due to the overnight weak close on Wall Street and a stronger yen triggering some heavy selling at several counters. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan are trading notably lower. Hong Kong is down marginally, while Shanghai is modestly higher.
Nikkei 225 tumbled by 392.73 points or 2.58% to 14,839.64, Hang Seng slipped 48.02 points or 0.20% to 24,339.54, KOSPI Index declined by 21.05 points or 1.02% to 2,033.46, Jakarta Composite decreased by 6.79 points or 0.13% to 5,060.18, Straits Times dipped 28.00 points or 0.84% to 3,286.22, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI contracted by 23.15 points or 1.24% to 1,844.17 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 77.43 points or 0.85% to 9,054.01.
On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was up by 5.48 points or 0.25% to 2,193.15.