All the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the morning deals on Monday, dragged down by weak commodity prices. Further, the investors’ awaiting data this week, that could provide more evidence of a slowdown in China, also contributed to the downtrend. On the regional front, the Japanese stock market edged lower, with investors taking some profits after recent strong gains that saw the market rising to near seven-year high last Friday. A weaker greenback too contributed to the market's decline. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong, Shanghai, South Korea and Taiwan are notably lower. Singapore and Malaysia are down with modest losses and Indonesia is down marginally.
Nikkei 225 dropped 126.97 points or 0.78% to 16,194.20, Hang Seng declined by 322.34 points or 1.33% to 23,983.82, KOSPI Index tumbled by 20.16 points or 0.98% to 2,033.66, Straits Times dipped 5.43 points or 0.16% to 3,299.62, Jakarta Composite contracted by 0.53 points or 0.01% to 5,227.06, Shanghai Composite decreased by 34.54 points or 1.48% to 2,294.91, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI slipped 3.55 points or 0.19% to 1,845.94 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 106.18 points or 1.15% to 9,134.27.