Asian markets are exhibiting mixed trend in the early deals on Friday, after Wall Street staged its biggest retreat in three weeks, despite gains for commodity prices. Meanwhile, Japanese shares slipped from near 1-1/2-year highs as the market took a breather from its rally since mid-April, while trading was also influenced by a mixed bag of earnings with Nissan Motor rising on a surprise dividend hike. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan are also lower. Bucking the trend, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Malaysia are modestly higher.
Nikkei 225 declined 111.74 points or 0.56% to 19,849.81, Taiwan Weighted dropped 30.97 points or 0.31% to 9,970.51, KOSPI Index dipped 10.95 points or 0.48% to 2,285.42 and Straits Times was down by 10.51 points or 0.32% to 3,260.60.
On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 1.12 points or 0.06% to 1,776.51, Shanghai Composite added 11.99 points or 0.39% to 3,073.49, Hang Seng increased 19.02 points or 0.08% to 25,144.57 and Jakarta Composite was up by 26.39 points or 0.47% to 5,679.39.