Asian markets mostly down, Nikkei slips 176pts

Asian markets were mostly in red owing to profit-taking.

The Nikkei ended with a loss of 176 points to 17,364. The Hang Seng was down 50 points to 20,330.

The Taiwan Weighted index plunged 73 points to 8002, and the Straits Times index dropped 11 points to 3362. The Seoul Composite index was down five points at 1521.

On the other hand, the Shanghai Composite index gained 25 points at 3556, and the Jakarata index was up nine points at 1939.