Most of the Asian equity benchmarks traded lower in early deals on Friday, in line with weak trend in Wall Street overnight amid anticipations that US Federal Reserve may curtail stimulus measures after the upbeat US economic data. Moreover, surge in covid infections caused by highly contagious variants of the virus in most of the region and the restrictions to contain fresh outbreaks dulled the market sentiments. Japan’s Nikkei retreated after two straight session gains. Investors also side-lined amid worries over extended state of emergency in Tokyo, Osaka and seven other prefectures to curtail fresh outbreaks, though the daily infection rates are steadily declining since it peaked in mid-May. Among the Asian markets, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan and Malaysia are trading lower. On the flip side, Hong Kong, and China are trading higher.
Nikkei 225 down by 112.88 points or 0.39% to 28,945.23, Straits Times dipped 2.85 points or 0.09% to 3,162.15, KOSPI narrowed 4.16 points or 0.13% to 3,243.27, Jakarta Composite curtailed 33.09 points or 0.54% to 6,058.42, Taiwan Weighted slipped by 131.22 points or 0.76% to 17,114.94, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI shrunk by 7.91 points 0.50% to 1,582.66. However, Hang Seng higher by 41.29 points or 0.14% to 29,007.32, and Shanghai Composite enlarged by 5.07 points or 0.14% to 3,589.28.