Asian markets are exhibiting mixed trend in the early deals on Friday, China shares pared early losses after the country's securities regulator denied rumors that it would raise taxes on local stock investors, while Japanese market traded lower due to profit-taking, following the recent strong gains that propelled the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index to 15-year highs. Among the other Asian markets, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia are higher. Meanwhile, Japan ,Hong Kong, Shanghai and Indonesia are in negative territory.
Nikkei 225 contracted 120.77 points or 0.60% to 20,066.88, KOSPI Index declined 9.52 points or 0.44% to 2,163.89, Hang Seng dipped 191.75 points or 0.69% to 27,635.95 and Shanghai Composite was down by 77.75 points or 1.76% to 4,336.76.
On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted increased 90.82 points or 0. .91% to 9,891.23, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI added by 11.89 points or 0.64% to 1,857.97, Jakarta Composite rose 5.44 points or 0.10% to 5,441.65 and Straits Times was up by 2.20 points or 0.06% to 3,504.95.