Asian markets mixed as China steadies after Thursday plunge

Asian markets were mixed on Friday.

The Nikkei 225 reversed early losses to close up 0.12 percent while the Shanghai Composite rose 0.06 percent.

On Thursday, the Shanghai Composite had plunged 2.3 percent while the Shenzhen Composite fell 2.9 percent after the Chinese government took steps to stop the proliferation of small online lenders following an earlier announcement that it planned to streamline oversight of asset-management products sold by financial instutitions.