Asian markets mostly trade lower on Ukrainian tensions

Most of the Asian equity indices are trading lower in the morning deals on Friday on the back of the concerns over heightened tension in the Ukraine. Meanwhile, The Japanese stock market traded higher with investors indulging in some buying, tracking quarterly earnings reports. The yen's slight retreat against the US dollar too aided sentiments to an extent. In the economic report, nationwide consumer prices in Japan were up 1.6 percent on year in March in line with expectations and up from 1.5 percent in February. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Shanghai and Taiwan are trading notably lower. Malaysia is down marginally, while Indonesia is trading modestly higher. Shanghai Composite declined 3.41 points or 0.17% to 2,053.62, Hang Seng slipped by 308.00 points or 1.37% to 22,254.80, KLSE Composite decreased 3.02 points or 0.16% to 1,862.26, Straits Times contracted by 15.81 points or 0.48% to 3,268.12, Seoul Composite dropped by 21.75 points or 1.09% to 1,976.59 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 171.06 points or 1.91% to 8,774.39. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite increased 23.82 points or 0.49% to 4,914.90 and Nikkei 225 was up by 31.65 points or 0.22% to 14,436.64.