Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Thursday on concerns about Greece`s debt reform after talks between the country`s officials and creditors fell apart and its leader accused them of rejecting his proposals. The Japanese market is lower with the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index retreating from an 18-year high in the previous session. The negative lead overnight from Wall Street is also contributing to the subdued trend in the market. Among the other markets in the Asian region, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia are also lower. Meanwhile, South Korea, Shanghai and Taiwan are marginally higher.
Nikkei 225 dipped 61.31 points or 0.29% to 20,806.72, Straits Times slipped 1.85 points or 0.06% to 3,349.48, Hang Seng crumbled 83.89 points or 0.31% to 27,321.08, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI declined 7.04 points or 0.41% to 1,724.64 and Jakarta Composite was down by 19.05 points or 0.38% to 4,934.47.
On the flip side, KOSPI Index surged 0.09 points to 2,085.62, Shanghai Composite increased 20.38 points or 0.43% to 4,710.53 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 73.51 points or 0.78% to 9,470.82.