ASIA STOCKS closed mixed (stock market)

Asian stocks closed mixed on Friday. 

Japanese stocks slid. The Nikkei Stock Average slumped 1.94% and the broader Topix declined 1.78%. 

A more than 1% tumble in the U.S. dollar against the yen below the Y104 level pressured shares of exporters, with Hitachi Ltd. falling 3%, Toshiba Corp. shedding 1.6% and Sony Corp. losing 1.3%. 

But shares of Apple Inc. supplier Murata Manufacturing Co. gained 1.1% after Apple shares advanced on the back of billionaire investor Carl Icahn’s campaign to convince Apple to raise its share buyback program by another $50 billion.

Hong Kong stocks fell Friday. The Hang Seng Index dipped 1.25%. 

Both Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. and Bank of China Ltd. lost 0.6%, while China Merchants Bank Co. fell 1.3%, and Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. slipped 0.5%. 

Citic 21CN, a Chinese integrated information and content provider, more than quadrupled its price after the company said in a filing that e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Yunfeng Capital would invest 1.33 billion Hong Kong dollars ($172 million) for a more than 54% stake in the company. Alibaba's major rival in China, Tencent Holdings Ltd. , retreated 2%. Casino stocks also added to recent weakness after J.P. Morgan recently said the stocks are fairly valued and downgraded MGM China Holdings Ltd. a day earlier. 

MGM China Holdings Ltd. fell another 2.9%, and Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. dropped 1.9%. 

On the Chinese mainland, the Shanghai Composite Index added 0.6%.

Australian stocks also closed lower with the S&P/ASX 200 down 0.42%. 

Financials showed some weakness with Australia & New Zealand Banking Group off 0.7%, while National Australia Bank Ltd. and Westpac Banking Corp. gave up 0.3% apiece.

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