Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading down in the early deals on Friday with the volatile crude oil prices and mounting worries about European banks’ profitability in the low-growth rate, low interest-rate environment weighing on investor sentiment. Meanwhile, the Japanese market is down with sharp losses amid worries about the global economy and the stronger safe-haven yen weighed on investor sentiment. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Indonesia are in negative territory. Meanwhile, Singapore and Malaysia are up with modest gains. The markets in China and Taiwan remained closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.
Nikkei 225 declined 596.89 points or 3.80% to 15,116.50, Hang Seng contracted 98.66 points or 0.53% to 18,447.14, KOSPI Index dropped 26.03 points or 1.40% to 1,835.51, and Jakarta Composite was down by 39.29 points or 0.82% to 4,736.57.
On the flip side, Straits Times surged 7.05 points or 0.28% to 2,545.33, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 1.19 points or 0.07% to 1,645.14.