Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading in red in the early deals on Friday, with some of the markets paring initial gains after China reported a decline in industrial profits for the month of October. China’s industrial profits slid 4.6 percent last month as compared with a 0.1 percent drop in September. Besides, US markets closed overnight for the Thanksgiving holiday, investors initially followed the lead from European markets that finished notably higher amid expectations of more stimulus measures from the European Central Bank. Among the other Asian markets, Shanghai, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, and Taiwan are in negative territory. Bucking the trend, Malaysia is marginally higher.
Nikkei 225 dropped 67.20 points or 0.34% to 19,877.21, Hang Seng declined 277.13 points or 1.23% to 22,211.81, KOSPI Index slipped 2.11 points or 0.10% to 2,028.57, Straits Times decreased 30.40 points or 1.05% to 2,854.29, Taiwan Weighted dipped 74.29 points or 0.88% to 8,410.61, Shanghai Composite contracted 55.37 points or 1.52% to 3,580.18, and Jakarta Composite was down by 15.55 points or 0.34% to 4,581.50.
On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 0.38 points or 0.02% to 1,683.47.