Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the morning deals on Wednesday with investors treading cautiously following a weak close on Wall Street overnight. On the regional front, the Japanese market dropped in the early deals. On the economic front, an index measuring business sentiment in Japan showed mild upside in the third quarter of 2014, the Bank of Japan revealed on Wednesday in its quarterly Tankan business survey. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, South Korea is modestly lower. Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore are down marginally, while Taiwan is up with modest gains.
Nikkei 225 tumbled by 24.16 points or 0.15% to 16,149.36, KOSPI Index slipped 23.27 points or 1.15% to 1,996.82, Straits Times decreased 10.72 points or 0.33% to 3,266.02, Jakarta Composite dropped by 11.98 points or 0.23% to 5,125.60, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 0.20 points or 0.01% to 1,846.11.
On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted was up by 24.08 points or 0.27% to 8,991.00.
Shanghai and Hong Kong markets remained shut for the trade today for National Day holiday.