Asia opens mixed as the week wraps up

Asian stocks opened the last session of the week mixed, with Japan, New Zealand, and Australia down, while China and South Korea close down ahead of the new lunar holiday. 

The World Health Organization said there's no need for panic yet over the Coronavirus, which killed 25 people and infected 830 in China and 14 people in other countries, noting it's still a local crisis. 

Earlier data from New Zealand showed consumer prices rose 0.5%, slowing down from 0.7% in the fourth quarter. 

Earlier Japanese data showed consumer prices up 0.8% in December, beating estimates of 0.7%. 

On a yearly basis, core prices rose 0.9% as expected, while Bank of Japan released minutes for the January 21 meeting, at which policymakers voted to keep rates at minus 10%. 

Japan's manufacturing PMI improved slightly to 49.3 from 48.4 in December. 

Japan's TOPEX fell 0.14%, while the Nikkei 225 dipped 0.05% to 23,782. 

Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.12% to 27,943, while New Zealand's NZX 50 shed 0.26% to 11,870, as Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.22%.