Asian stock markets ended slightly lower in holiday-hit trading on Friday. Many markets including Australia, Hong Kong Jakarta, Singapore, Manila and India were closed for public holidays.

Tokyo shares ended lower as exporters declined on back of stronger yen. Benchmark Nikkei declined 0.04 percent or 3.56 points to 9,682.21.

Among exporters, Sony Corp. declined 1.23 percent to 2,477 yen and Fanuc Corp. fell 0.22 percent to 13,220 yen, while Canon inc. declined 1.4 percent to 3,510 yen after a media report showed that Canon’s operating profit for the January-March quarter declined by about 8 percent on the year to about 80 billion yen.

Chip and automaker shares gained after Renesas Electronics Corp. said it will restart production at a quake-halted plant. Honda Motor gained 2.27 percent and Nissan Motor surged 3.61 percent, while Toyota Motor Corp. advanced 3.13 percent.

Chinese shares ended lower, led by declines from financials and property developers on monetary tightening concerns. Chinese Shanghai composite fell 0.52 percent or 15.67 points to 3,011.00. Citic Securities Co Ltd. declined 1.79 percent and Cinda Real Estate Co Ltd. fell 2.26 percent.

South Korean shares ended flat as tech shares declined after recent rally. Seoul composite declined 0.72 points or 0.03 percent to 2,197.82. Samsung Electronics declined 2.58 percent and Hynix Semiconductor fell 1.08 percent, while POSCO gained 0.52 percent ahead of its quarterly results.

India Sony Australia Australia