Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading down in the early deals on Friday with investors in a cautious mood ahead of US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration later in the day. Though, Chinese stocks gained on stronger-than-expected economic growth. The National Bureau of Statistics said that China's gross domestic product expanded 6.8 percent on year in the fourth quarter of 2016. That beat forecasts for 6.7 percent, which would have been unchanged from the three months prior. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia are lower. Bucking the trend, Nikkei, and Taiwan are modestly higher.
Hang Seng dipped 142.10 points or 0.62% to 22,907.86, Straits Times slipped 2.60 points or 0.09% to 3,005.62, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 1.26 points or 0.08% to 1,665.25, KOSPI Index dropped 5.02 points or 0.24% to 2,067.77, and Jakarta Composite was down by 31.30 points or 0.59% to 5,267.65.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 gained 67.58 points or 0.35% to 19,139.83, Shanghai Composite added 16.73 points or 0.54% to 3,118.03, and Taiwan Weighted was up by 23.19 points or 0.25% to 9,341.31.