Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the morning deals on Thursday. On the regional front, the Japanese stock market is trading notably higher after solid US growth buoyed sentiments and as the weakening yen lifted exporters. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Taiwan is trading sharply lower. South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Shanghai and Hong Kong are slightly lower. While Singapore is notably higher.
Hang Seng slipped by 30.93 points or 0.13% to 24,701.28, KOSPI Index dropped by 8.20 points or 0.39% to 2,074.41, Jakarta Composite declined 9.84 points or 0.19% to 5,088.80, Shanghai Composite dipped 0.13 points or 0.01% to 2,181.11, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI tumbled by 3.48 points or 0.19% to 1,874.86 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 106.29 points or 1.13% to 9,340.73.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 spurted by 30.80 points or 0.20% to 15,677.03 and Straits Times was up by 29.20 points or 0.87% to 3,382.85.