All the Asian equity benchmarks barring Shanghai Composite are trading lower in the early deals on Friday, tracking cues from Wall Street where the major averages plunged sharply overnight amid lingering concerns about the outlook for U.S. interest rates. Geopolitical concerns due to the ongoing conflict in Syria also contributed to the weakness. On the regional front, the Japanese stock market declined sharply, with investors pressing sales across the board, as the yen's rose against the greenback. On the economic front, core consumer prices in Japan were up 3.1 percent on year in August that was below forecasts for 3.2 percent and down from 3.3 percent in July. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Indonesia is sharply lower. Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan are also trading weak. Singapore is down slightly, while Shanghai is marginally higher.
Nikkei 225 tumbled by 155.18 points or 0.95% to 16,218.96, Hang Seng declined 109.16 points or 0.46% to 23,658.97, KOSPI Index dipped by 5.50 points or 0.27% to 2,028.61, Straits Times dropped 3.71 points or 0.11% to 3,287.28, Jakarta Composite decreased by 74.98 points or 1.44% to 5,126.40, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI slipped 6.26 points or 0.34% to 1,836.85 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 48.70 points or 0.54% to 8,962.89.
On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was up by 0.77 points or 0.03% to 2,345.88.