Asian markets mixed; Nikkei down 73pts

 The Hang Seng has slipped 96 points to 23,973. The Nikkei has shed 73 points at 16,086.

On the other hand, the Shanghai Composite index has advanced 65 points to 5376, and the Taiwan Weighted index has added 40 points to 8954.

The Straits Times and the Seoul Composite indices are almost flat 3439 and 1864, respectively.