Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading down in the early deals on Monday, following the negative lead from Wall Street on Friday amid fresh worries about a Greek debt default. Meanwhile, the Chinese central bank's stimulus measures failed to boost sentiment. The Japanese markets rose on pulling back up from a two-week low as China's latest stimulus step offset weakness in US and European shares. Among other markets in the Asian region, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan are all trading in negative territory. Meanwhile, Japan, South Korea and Shanghai is up with modest gains.
Hang Seng declined 81.52 points or 0.29 % to 27,571.60, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI dropped 2.23 points or 0.12 % to 1,843.63, Taiwan Weighted contracted 6.46 points or 0.07% % to 9,564.47, Jakarta Composite crumbled 20.21 points or 0.37 % to 5,390.44 and Straits Times was down by 17.22 points or 0.49 % to 3,507.97.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 increased by 46.93 points or 0.24% to 19,699.81, Shanghai Composite added 43.98 points or 1.03% to 4,331.28 and KOSPI Index was up by 0.25 points or 0.01% to 2,143.75.