Asian stocks traded mixed Friday, with Japanese shares ending in negative territory after data showed machinery orders fell more than three times faster than expected in December. Australia's benchmark index traded on an upbeat note, powered by a rebound in banking shares in the wake of modest gains on Wall Street.
The Nikkei 225 Average ended 1.4% lower, declining 190 points to 13,017.24.
Markets in Hong Kong, South Korea, Indonesia, China, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam are shut for Chinese Lunar New Year holidays. These markets will reopen Monday, apart from Vietnam and Taiwan, which will reopen Tuesday.
Shares of industrial robot maker Fanuc Ltd. were down 4% while machinery maker Komatsu plunged 6.7% and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries fell 6.5%.
In other Tokyo action -- shares of Japan Tobacco climbed 3.4% after the world's third-biggest cigarette maker by sales lifted its operating profit forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31 by 4.2% to 422 billion yen.
Elsewhere:
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 1.1%.
New Zealand's NZX-50 fell 0.7%.
Thailand's SET index added 1.2%.
India's Sensex index was down 0.7% in mid-session trading at 17,405.45.
with files from other news services
