Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Friday, as the negative cues from Wall Street and enhanced prospects of a near-term Fed rate hike dampened investor sentiment. Though, Japan's Nikkei share average rose to hover near a six-month high as rising bond yields lifted insurers and banks, which are investing more in overseas bonds amid Japan's low bond yield environment. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Indonesia are lower. Bucking the trend, Shanghai, Malaysia and Taiwan are up with modest gains.
Hang Seng dipped 98.66 points or 0.43% to 23,033.69, Taiwan Weighted decreased 3.97 points or 0.04% to 9,295.58, Straits Times declined 15.56 points or 0.55% to 2,813.38, Jakarta Composite slipped 3.98 points or 0.07% to 5,412.86, and KOSPI Index was down by 4.11 points or 0.20% to 2,020.01.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 added 93.81 points or 0.54% to 17,430.23, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 0.82 points or 0.05% to 1,669.85, and Shanghai Composite was up by 1.00 points or 0.03% to 3,113.35.