Asian markets were trading mostly in the red in early deals, following weak cues from Wall Street overnight. The Japanese market is currently flat even as the yen has weakened in Asian trading. A batch of soft economic data released from China may also impact the mood of the markets in the region, especially in Australia, which exports much of its commodities to China. Traders also remained on the sidelines ahead of some key global Main Street events such as the European Central Bank's rate decision due early in the New York session, U.S. data on industrial production, manufacturing activity and homebuilder sentiment and another batch of U.S. earnings. Meanwhile, Chinese Shanghai Composite edged lower by over a percent as the country’s First quarter GDP slowed to 7 percent year-over-year, a 6-year low, slower than the 7.3 percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2015.
Taiwan Weighted decreased 77.12 points or 0.8% to 9,565.10, Shanghai Composite dropped 46.05 points or 1.11% to 4,089.52, Hang Seng slipped 13.74 points or 0.05% to 27,547.75, Jakarta Composite shed 12.64 points or 0.23% to 5,406.47 and Nikkei 225 was down by 1.53 points or 0.01% to 19,907.15.
On the flip side, KOSPI Index increased 2.08 points or 0.1% to 2,113.80, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI rose 3.48 points or 0.19% to 1,843.09 and Straits Times was up by 16.85 points or 0.48% to 3,537.93.