Asian markets were mixed early on Friday ahead of more economic data out of China.

Chinese trade data, scheduled to come out later in the session, will follow Thursday's inflation and industrial production, which were interpreted by many as leaving room for Beijing to implement more measures to stimulate the economy.

Both euro and the yen stabilized against the dollar as the greenback strengthened overnight, after U.S. trade numbers came out better than expected and the number of jobless claims fell. The euro was slightly lower against the dollar, following

Thursday's 0.5% loss, to $1.2298 compared to $1.2306 late in New York. The dollar was at Y78.58, compared to 78.56 late on Thursday.

The Singapore dollar fell against the U.S. dollar after the government said the economy contracted less than previously estimated in the second quarter, but added the city state remains vulnerable to downside risks. The U.S. dollar went as high as $1.2464 to the Singaporean dollar, compared to $1.2437 before the announcement.

A softer yen was not enough to help Japan's Nikkei, typically an aid for local exporters, which was 0.5% down in early trading, as investors stepped back after a 5% gain on the benchmark over the last four trading days. Leading the retreat were telecoms shares--Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp lost 0.9% and Softbank declined by 1.1%.

South Korea's Kospi, which also gained 5% in the first four sessions of the week, was up 0.2% in early trading. Australia's S&P ASX 200 was flat.

In company news, Olympus Corp. lost 2.3% in Tokyo after the firm announced that its first quarter net loss widened significantly on year. The company also said that it is looking for a partner to invest around Y50 billion to bolster its finances.

-Write to Daniel Inman at Daniel.Inman@wsj.com

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