Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Monday, after dismal Chinese trade data eclipsed a strong U.S. jobs report, raising concerns about a deepening slowdown in the world's second-largest economy. Further, Japan's share average was steady as the yen weakened against the dollar after strong U.S. jobs data. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan are trading marginally lower, while Indonesia, Shanghai are higher with modest gains.
Hang Seng declined 113.47 points or 0.46% to 24,565.92, KOSPI Index contracted 5.86 points or 0.30% to 1,949.66, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI crumbled 1.84 points or 0.10% to 1,811.41, Taiwan Weighted dipped 36.42 points or 0.39% to 9,419.12,and Straits Times was down by 3.25 points or 0.09% to 3,428.11.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 gained 35.49 points or 0.20% to 17,683.99, Jakarta Composite added 28.12 points or 0.53% to 5,370.63 and Shanghai Composite was up by 9.19 points or 0.30% to 3,085.09.