Asian markets end mixed

Equity investors booked profits on recent gains ahead of the weekend, with stocks of resource companies like BHP Billiton further weighed by a pullback in oil and metals prices.

Japan's Nikkei average shed 0.9 per cent to close at 10,499, a day after reaching an eight-month high, while stocks elsewhere in Asia were flat.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index put on 0.2 per cent at 24,283, while the Taiwan Weighted at 8,973 closed flat.

The Straits Times, Singapore's benchmark index, saw a marginal fall of 0.3 per cent at 3,246.

China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.3 per cent at 2,791 on speculation of further policy action, which often emerges on Fridays as the central bank tends to announce its decisions at the weekend.

Amongst the other major Asian indices, the Seoul Composite gained 0.9 per cent to end the day at 2,108.

In the western world, the euro paused today, but was still on track to post its best weekly performance against the dollar in 20 months, while Asian equity markets struggled to extend recent gains, with Japan's Nikkei retreating from an 8-month peak.

The euro's rise marked an impressive turnaround from a four-month low around $1.2871 on Monday and set the scene for a retest of the December high of $1.3500. It is up about 3.5 per cent this week, the biggest weekly rise since May 2009.

However, major European indices were trading in the red at 3 pm, with the CAC 40 down 0.2% at 3,966, DAX at 7,065 down 0.1% and the FTSE 100 trading down 0.4% at 6,024.