Asian markets mixed; Nikkei down 272pts

Asian markets are mixed today.

The Nikkei has shed 272 points to 16,834.

The Straits Times index has dropped 61 points to 3749. The Seoul Composite and the Taiwan Weighted indices have declined 19 points each to 1986 and 9618, respectively.

On the other hand, the Hang Seng has gained 166 points at 29,465, and the Shanghai Composite index has moved up 29 points to 5854.