Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Tuesday with the overnight weak close on Wall Street and concerns about the global economy on the back of recent soft data from Asia and the euro zone weighing on sentiment. A sharp drop in crude oil prices is also contributing to the weakness in the equity markets. Further, the Japanese stock market declined, with investors taking some profits after seven successive days of gains. The overnight weak close on Wall Street, the oil's fall to a five-year low and a slightly stronger yen are also contributing to the weakness in the market. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan are trading lower. Singapore and Shanghai are notably higher.
Nikkei 225 crumbled by 130.42 points or 0.73% to 17,805.22, Hang Seng dropped by 227.44 points or 0.95% to 23,820.23, KOSPI Index declined 7.73 points or 0.39% to 1,971.22, Jakarta Composite contracted by 7.55 points or 0.15% to 5,136.47, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 6.16 points or 0.35% to 1,734.68 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 44.89 points or 0.49% to 9,142.40.
On the flip side, Straits Times surged 31.03 points or 0.94% to 3,328.87 and Shanghai Composite was up by 37.48 points or 1.24% to 3,057.74.