Asian markets mixed; Taiwan Weighted, Kospi down

Asian equity markets kicked off Thursday mixed, as traders reacted to better-than-expected trade figures from Japan and the continued slide in iron ore prices.

Overnight, US stocks were little changed, with benchmarks at or near all-time highs, as Wall Street took minutes from the Federal Reserve's last policy meeting in stride.

US Fed officials are worried that inflation may stay low "for quite some time" despite the central bank's multi-trillion dollar effort to jump start the economy, according to minutes from the October meeting released Wednesday. Open Market Committee members also discussed how they should go about raising interest rates, and expressed some worry over market volatility during the process.

China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.39 percent or 9.49 points at 2,441.49. Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.33 percent or 77.16 points at 23,296.15.

Singapore's Straits Times was down 0.12 percent or 4.05 points at 3,330.51. South Korea's Seoul Composite declined 0.62 percent or 12.13 points at 1,954.74.

Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted rose 0.86 percent or 76.82 points at 9,040.06. Japan's Nikkei gained 0.18 percent or 30.83 points at 17,319.58.

(with inputs from cnbc.com)