Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Friday, due to the mixed cues overnight from Wall Street following the Fed-inspired rally seen in the previous session. In addition, a stronger dollar weighed on oil and other commodity prices. Further, Japan's Nikkei share average was little changed, as investors took a breather after the market's strong rally since February. Among the other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Shanghai, South Korea, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan are lower. Meanwhile, Singapore is in positive territory.
Nikkei 225 dipped 21.08 points or 0.11% to 19,455.48, Hang Seng contracted 69.09 points or 0.28% to 24,399.80, KOSPI Index declined 0.32 points or 6.55% to 2,031.34 FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI slipped 8.03 points or 0.44% to 1,801.10, Taiwan Weighted crumbled 13.52 points or 0.14% to 9,723.21, Shanghai Composite shaded by 8.41 points or 0.23% to 3,573.86 and Jakarta Composite was down by 20.70 points or 0.38% to 5,433.15.
On the flip side, Straits Times was up by 17.66 points or 0.52% to 3,403.82.