Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Monday, with investors treading cautiously following a negative lead from Wall Street on Friday after the U.S. employment report for December showed a slowdown in wage growth. Lower crude oil prices also weighed on sentiment. Among the other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, the Japanese market is closed on Monday for the Coming of Age Day holiday. Hong Kong, Singapore and Indonesia are trading higher with modest gains. Shanghai is notably lower, while South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan are marginally lower.
Jakarta Composite declined 32.48 points or 0.59% to 5,185.80, KOSPI Index dipped 4.81 points or 0.25% to 1,919.89, Shanghai Composite contracted 69.64 points or 2.12% to 3,215.77, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI slipped 5.30 points or 0.31% to 1,727.14 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 14.82 points or 0.16 % to 9,200.76.
On the flip side, Hang Seng surged 13.28 points or 0.06% to 23,933.23 and Straits Times was up buy 1.13 points or 0.03% to 3,339.57,