Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Thursday, as the flat close overnight on Wall Street, lower oil prices and markets erred on the side of caution over the ongoing Greek debt negotiations amid conflicting headlines on progress in the talks. Further, The Japanese stock market, which resumed trading after a one-day holiday, opened higher on better-than-expected core machinery order data, while a weaker yen boosted export-oriented stocks. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Shanghai, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand and South Korea are trading in negative territory. while Hong Kong and Taiwan are higher with modest gains.
KOSPI Index dipped 6.53 points or 0.34% to 1,939.17, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI contracted 12.46 points or 0.69% to 1,786.49, Straits Times declined 27.26 points or 0.79% to 3,417.31, Jakarta Composite slipped 15.05 points or 0.28% to 5,321.46 and Shanghai Composite was down by 4.68 points or 0.15% to 3,153.02.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 surged 317.72 points or 1.80% to 17,970.40 , Hang Seng gained 143.33 points or 0.59% to 24,458.35 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 8.35 points or 0.03% to 9,465.53.