Asian markets are exhibiting mixed trend in the early deals on Wednesday due to the overnight soft close on Wall Street and concerns about the global economy on the back of recent weak data from Asia and Europe hurting sentiment. Japanese stocks tumbled to a more than one-week low as political uncertainty in Greece spooked world markets already under strain from a slide in crude oil prices and worries over global growth. Meanwhile, China’s stocks rose, halting the benchmark index’s biggest slide in five years, as slowing inflation bolstered the case for further monetary easing. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Shanghai, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan are notably lower, while Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore are in positive territory.
Nikkei 225 crumbled by 390.40 points or 2.19% to 17,422.98, Hang Seng declined by 39.40 points or 0.17% to 23,446.43, KOSPI Index decreased by 23.68 points or 1.20% to 1,947.27 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 80.33 points or 0.88% to 9,047.74.
On the flip side, Straits Times gained 8.57 points or 0.26% to 3,328.41, Shanghai Composite strengthened by 11.28 points or 0.39 % to 2,867.55, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI added 15.34 points or 0.88% to 1,753.44 and Jakarta Composite was up by 15.81 points or 0.31% to 5,138.12.