The pound weakened on Friday in Asia in volatile trade on the ebb and flow of actual results and an exit poll suggested a hung parliament in the U.K. after Thursday's election, with regional indexes mostly higher.

Share Market Live

NSE

An exit poll showed U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative Party might have lost its parliamentary majority, winning just 314 seats of the 326 seats required for a majority. The poll also showed that the Labour Party would secure 266 seats.

Results from the BBC reflected 49 seats for the Conservatives and 64 for Labour at 9:25 a.m. HK/SIN. The BBC's latest projection said the Conservatives would win 322 seats, while Labour would win 261 seats.

Betting exchanges Betfair and Paddy Power at least briefly said Corbyn had become the favorite to become the U.K. prime minister.

The British pound tumbled on the back of political uncertainty in the U.K. Cable traded as low as $1.2704 overnight, down from levels around the $1.295 handle earlier. Pound/dollar traded at $1.2766 at 9:35 a.m. HK/SIN.

"Traditionally, (the) British pound has rallied with a Conservative win, but it remains debatable as to whether a hung parliament or a Labour win would have been the worst outcome for traders," ThinkMarkets Senior Market Analyst Matt Simpson said in a morning note.

While the sterling could recover, as exit polls have proven inaccurate before, the probability of a false reading is lower than the probability of an accurate one, Simpson added.

Asian markets appeared to mostly shrug off the political uncertainty in the U.K.

Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.74 percent and the Kospi gained 0.59 percent. Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index climbed 0.02 percent higher.

The Hang Seng Index was up 0.05 percent in early trade while markets on mainland China traded in the red. The Shanghai Composite was down by 0.11 percent and the Shenzhen Composite was off by 0.042 percent.

"The possibility of a reduced Conservative majority or event a minority government is unlikely to have a significant impact on broader global markets," CMC Markets Chief Market Analyst Ric Spooner said in a Friday morning note, adding that the market moves would "likely be confined to the U.K."

Meanwhile, shares of Man Wah resumed trading in Hong Kong today. The company said in an announcement that short-seller Carson Block's accusations were "groundless" and "false." Shares of the furniture-maker fell 15 percent after Block said he was targeting the company due to its undisclosed debt, among other reasons.

Shares of Japan's SoftBank Group surged 7.43 percent following news the company had acquired robotics companies Boston Dynamics and Schaft from Alphabet.

In other currency news, the dollar traded at 97.319 against a basket of six rival currencies at 9:32 a.m. HK/SIN, off the 96 handle seen the past week. Against the yen, the greenback gained to trade at 110.10 and the Aussie/dollar traded mostly flat at $0.7535.

Oil prices were slightly lower. Brent crude dipped 0.17 percent to trade at $47.78 a barrel and U.S. crude shed 0.2 percent to trade at $45.55.

In China, the consumer price index (CPI) for May rose 1.5 percent on year, in line with a Reuters poll, but dipped 0.1 percent on month. Meanwhile, the producer price index (PPI) reflected a 5.5 percent rise on year.

Stateside, stocks on Wall Street ended the session slightly higher following former FBI Director James Comey's testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee.