Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Friday after a survey of Chinese manufacturing activity was weaker than expected, while US jobs data underpinned the dollar as it bolstered bets that the US Federal Reserve is on track to hike interest rates later this year. The Japanese market declined after dismal corporate earnings on Wall Street, while some investors hugged the sidelines ahead of key Chinese economic data due out later in the day. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan are also lower. Meanwhile, Shanghai is in positive territory.
Nikkei 225 dipped 131.68 points or 0.64% to 20,552.27, Hang Seng slipped 237.59 points or 0.94% to 25,161.26, KOSPI Index declined 17.96 points or 0.87% to 2,047.11, Taiwan Weighted contracted 35.46 points or 0.40% to 8,755.66, Straits Times decreased 2.98 points or 0.09% to 3,353.39, Jakarta Composite dropped 51.34 points or 1.05% to 4,851.51 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 3.10 points or 0.18% to 1,719.34.
On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was up by 44.01 points or 1.07% to 4,167.94.