Stock indices of the largest countries in the Asia-Pacific region show weak and multidirectional changes during trading on Friday.

Trading participants continue to assess the latest remarks by Federal Reserve officials, which point to the likelihood of a faster and stronger tightening of monetary policy in the U.S. amid the fastest pace of consumer price increases in decades, MarketWatch reported.

“The market will certainly have to digest the actions of the Fed, which appears poised to wage a very aggressive fight against inflation,” U.S. Bank Wealth Management senior investment analyst Rob Haworth believes.

“Global risk appetite is still uncertain in the short term as hawkish statements from central banks weigh on sentiment.” The situation between Ukraine and Russia remains a negative factor,” said Anderson Alves of ActivTrades.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index was up 0.1% by 8:26 Moscow time. As a result, it ends the second week in a row with losses of about 3%, Trading Economics notes.

Leading the growth on Friday are shares of optics manufacturer Nikon Corp. (+7.3%), healthcare services provider M3 Inc . (T:2413) (+3.9%) and telecom Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. (+3.8%). In addition, consumer electronics maker Sony (T:6758) (+0.8%), investment-technology SoftBank Group (T:9984) (+0.1%), base metals producers Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. (+2.8%) and Mitsui Mining & Smelting Co. (+2.5%) are rising.

Meanwhile, declines in the value of trading houses Mitsubishi Corp. and Marubeni Corp. – by 3.9%, automakers Toyota Motor (T:7203) and Mazda Motor Corp. (T:7261) by 3.8% and 3.1%, respectively.

The share price of retailer Seven & I Holdings fell 3.8%. A day earlier, the company reported a 26% drop in net income in its fiscal fourth quarter (December-February) to 35.8 billion yen ($289.2 million). Meanwhile, revenue jumped 75% to 2.6 trillion yen. Both figures exceeded forecasts. The value of Asia’s largest apparel retailer Fast Retailing (T:9983) is also down (-0.4%).

China’s Shanghai Composite index was up 0.6% by 8:31 Moscow time, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.3%.

The securities of sports goods manufacturer Anta Sports Products Ltd. (-5.9%), chip maker AAC Technologies Holdings Inc. (-3.6%), as well as Internet companies JD.com Inc. (NASDAQ:JD) (-3.2%), Meituan (HK:3690) (-3%), Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) Group Holding Ltd. (-2.7%) are getting cheaper in Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, the share price of real estate developers China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd. (+3.3%) and Country Garden Holdings Co. (+2.8%), computer maker Lenovo (+2.7%) and oil CNOOC (HK:0883) (+2.6%) are up.

South Korea’s Kospi index was up 0.1% by 8:77 Moscow time.

Shares of chemical companies, including Hannong Chemicals Inc. (+12.5%) and POSCO Chemical Co. (+12.1%), led the gains.

The market value of Samsung Electronics Co. (KS:005930), one of the world’s largest chip makers, fell 0.15%, while automaker Hyundai Motor (KS:005380) fell 1.4%.

Australian index S&P/ASX 200 increased by 0.5%.

Shares of mining companies, including Paladin Energy Ltd. (+14.1%), Gold Road Resources Ltd. (+4.7%), Whitehaven Coal Ltd. (+3.9%) were the leaders of the increase in quotations.

At the same time, the securities of the world’s largest mining companies BHP and Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) rose by 1.7% and 0.4% respectively.