Asian markets trade mostly lower in early deals on Friday

Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Friday as investors weighed the outlook for monetary policy in the US and Japan after the European Central Bank downplayed the need for more economic stimulus. Meanwhile, South Korean shares dropped after the suspected nuclear test in North Korea caused an earthquake near a known nuclear testing site. A shallow 5.0-magnitude earthquake was detected near North Korea's nuclear test site, according to the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan are in negative territory. Bucking the trend, Nikkei, Hong Kong and Shanghai are edging higher.

Straits Times dropped 25.27 points or 0.87% to 2,869.21, Taiwan Weighted decreased 103.22 points or 1.11% to 9,159.67, KOSPI Index contracted 31.04 points or 1.50% to 2,032.69, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI slipped 6.47 points or 0.38% to 1,684.91, and Jakarta Composite was down by 57.50 points or 1.07% to 5,313.58.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 added 29.81 points or 0.18% to 16,988.58, Hang Seng gained 228.45 points or 0.96% to 24,147.79, and Shanghai Composite was up by 0.62 points or 0.02% to 3,096.57.