All the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Friday following the mixed cues overnight from Wall Street and as investors focused on regional corporate earnings results. The dollar was flat in Asian trades after rebounding overnight on better-than-expected US durable goods orders data. Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei share average fell after tech shares dropped sharply following weakness on the Nasdaq market, while investors stayed cautious as the dollar slipped against the yen.
Nikkei 225 dropped 149.83 points or 0.75% to 19,929.81, Hang Seng declined 171.8 points or 0.63% to 26,959.37, Taiwan Weighted slipped 90.18 points or 0.86% to 10,418.19, KOSPI Index dipped 33.22 points or 1.36% to 2,410.02, Jakarta Composite decreased 9.75 points or 0.17% to 5,810.00, Shanghai Composite contracted 1.44 points or 0.04% to 3,248.34, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI crumbled 1.41 points or 0.08% to 1,768.66, and Straits Times was down by 33.30 points or 0.99% to 3,321.41.