Asian markets trade mostly higher in early deals on Friday Feb-14-2014

Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading in the green in the early deals on Friday tailing the gains in the US markets, though there was concern about the Federal Reserve’s stimulus cuts, a slowdown in China and volatility in developing markets. Japanese stock market is trading weak following the yen's rise against the US dollar after the announcement on implementation of Japan’s stimulus program. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Indonesia, South Korea and Taiwan are trading notably higher. Malaysia is up marginally, while Singapore is trading slightly weak. Shanghai Composite added 10.51 points or 0.50% to 2,108.91,  Hang Seng increased 88.24 points or 0.40% to 22,253.77, Jakarta Composite surged 11.49 points or 0.26% to 4,503.15, KLSE Composite gained 1.83 points or 0.10% to 1,818.98, Seoul Composite rose 15.23 points or 0.79% to 1,942.19 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 76.56 points or 0.90% to 8,544.26. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 slumped by 254.83 points or 1.75% to 14,279.91 and Straits Times was down by 3.89 points or 0.13% to 3,036.01.