Investing.com - Asia markets mostly fell on Friday with Samsung Group shares in focus following the arrest of its chief
Jay Y. Lee was arrested early on Friday over his alleged role in a corruption scandal that led parliament to impeach President Park Geun-hye, according to Reuters. Lee was taken into custody at the Seoul Detention Center, where he had awaited a court's decision, following a day-long closed-door hearing that ended on Thursday evening, Reuters said.
Samsung and Lee have denied wrongdoing in the case.
Shares of the group's flagship business — Samsung Electronics (KS:005930) — eased 1.8%.
Elsewhere, Japanese shares were also lower, with the Nikkei Stock Average down 0.56% even as electronics company Sharp beat the broader index to trade up 2.80%.
Australia's the benchmark ASX 200 traded down 0.21% with the energy and materials sectors down 0.54%.
Overnight, U.S. stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Oil & Gas, Consumer Services and Healthcare sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.01%, while the S&P 500 index lost 0.17%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0.19%.