Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading down in the early deals on Friday, with political uncertainty in the US weighing on investors’ sentiments. Media reports indicated that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has expanded his investigation of alleged collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign to include President Donald Trump's business transactions. Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei share average edged down as investors took in the European Central Bank's policy talk, while individual companies such as Yaskawa Electric soared on strong profit forecasts. Among the other Asian markets, Shanghai, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Malaysia are also modestly lower. Bucking the trend, Singapore, and South Korea are edging higher.
Nikkei 225 dropped 38.61 points or 0.19% to 20,105.98, Hang Seng declined 33.9 points or 0.13% to 26,706.31, Jakarta Composite slipped 32.84 points or 0.56% to 5,792.37, Shanghai Composite dipped 6.71 points or 0.21% to 3,238.15, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI contracted 1.4 points or 0.08% to 1,754.23, and Taiwan Weighted was down by 57.24 points or 0.55% to 10,442.12.
On the flip side, Straits Times gained 17.87 points or 0.54% to 3,311.00, and KOSPI Index was up by 7.76 points or 0.32% to 2,449.60.