All the Asian equity benchmarks barring Taiwan Weighted are trading lower in the early deals on Friday, tracking cues from Wall Street where the major averages plunged sharply overnight amid mounting worries about the global economy on the back of recent disappointing data and a downward revision in global growth by the International Monetary Fund. On the regional front, the Japanese stock market opened sharply lower as investors pressed sales, tracking cues from Wall Street where the major averages tanked overnight amid worries about the global economy. In the economic news, an index measuring tertiary industry activity was down a seasonally adjusted 0.1 percent on month in August, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said on Friday - standing at 97.8. That missed forecasts for an increase of 0.1 percent, following the flat reading in July. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea are notably lower, while Shanghai is down with modest losses. Hong Kong is traded higher.
Nikkei 225 tumbled by 208.21 points or 1.35% to 15,270.72, KOSPI Index slipped 26.27 points or 1.34% to 1,938.98, Straits Times dropped 29.99 points or 0.92% to 3,229.26, Jakarta Composite declined by 30.42 points or 0.61% to 4,963.46, Shanghai Composite dipped 14.09 points or 0.59% to 2,375.28 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 16.88 points or 0.92% to 1,812.85.
On the flip side, Hang Seng was up by 271.20 points or 1.17% to 23,534.53.
Taiwan market remained shut for the trade today for National Day.