Asia: Most stocks down, Japan helped by weaker yen

Most of Asian stocks were down on Friday apart from Japanese's Nikkei, helped by a weaker yen.

Nikkei 225 rose 0.39% with the yen declining to ¥117.57 against the dollar.

Stocks were helped by a small decrease in Japan's jobless rate to 3.4% in December from 3.5% in November and an improvement in industrial production to +0.3% from -3.7%.

The Shanghai index declined for the fourth consecutive day by 1.59%, while Hang Seng was down 0.36%.

Chinese regulators were said to be preparing to launch a fresh investigation into stock margin trading in 46 companies, according to reports on Thursday.

"The inspection belongs to normal regular supervision and should not be over-interpreted," Xinhua news agency said, quoting the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

Capital Economics analysts said: "Chinese equities turned more volatile over the past month, and there are signs that some steam may be coming out of the market.

"Meanwhile, market interest rates have been relatively stable, with a spike in December having been largely reversed this month."

On LME, three-month copper futures came in lower than the previous session, falling 1.3% to $5,402.50.

Brent crude futures rose 0.16% to $49.21 per barrel, according to the ICE.