All the Asian equity benchmarks barring Straits Times are trading lower in the morning deals on Tuesday, despite Wall Street ended higher overnight, extending the previous session's gains but the buying interest in Asian markets remains somewhat subdued today. On the regional front, the Japanese stock market drifted lower, with investors pressing some sales after Monday's splendid upmove. A slightly stronger yen too contributed to the market's decline. Chinese Shanghai Composite fell for the third time in four days on speculation better-than-estimated economic growth will curb prospects for large-scale stimulus. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Malaysia, Taiwan and South Korea are trading lower. Singapore is up with modest gains.
Nikkei 225 tumbled by 174.77 points or 1.16% to 14,936.46, Hang Seng dropped 57.95 points or 0.25% to 23,012.31, KOSPI Index eased 14.90 points or 0.77% to 1,915.16, Jakarta Composite contracted 6.93 points or 0.14% to 5,033.60, Shanghai Composite fell 6.30 points or 0.27% to 2,350.43, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI declined by 4.83 points or 0.27% to 1,798.31 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 9.57 points or 0.11% to 8,653.57.
On the flip side, Straits Times was up by 7.87 points or 0.25% to 3,188.92.