Asian markets mostly trade lower in early deals on Friday

All the Asian equity indices barring Jakarta Composite traded lower in the early deals on Friday, tracking cues from Wall Street where the major averages plunged sharply overnight amid worries about a slowdown in China and on heavy profit taking in technology stocks ahead of quarterly earnings reports. The Japanese stock market dropped on continued worries about a slowdown in China as well as the yen strengthened against the dollar as weaker-than-forecast Chinese exports revived demand for safer assets. On the economic front, an index measuring the prices of domestic corporate goods in Japan was flat on month in March, at 102.8, that missed forecasts for an increase of 0.1 percent following the upwardly revised 0.1 percent contraction in February. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan are all trading weak, while Indonesia is trading notably higher. Shanghai Composite declined 12.59 points or 0.59% to 2,121.71, Hang Seng slipped by 153.28 points or 0.66% to 23,033.68, KLSE Composite contracted 10.05 points or 0.54% to 1,849.47, Nikkei 225 tumbled 302.13 points or 2.11% to 13,997.99, Straits Times shed by 6.02 points or 0.19% to 3,197.56, KOSPI Composite dropped by 18.46 points or 0.92% to 1,990.15 and  Taiwan Weighted was down by 88.72 points or 0.99% to 8,859.38. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was up by 28.91 points or 0.61% to 4,794.64.