Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Thursday due to increased risk aversion tracking uncertainty regarding the Greek debt crisis. The Chinese stock market has plummeted in recent weeks despite a series of market-stabilizing measures by authorities. The Japanese market declined on fears about the state of the Chinese economy, but then much of the loss was erased as mainland stock markets changed course and rose. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia and Taiwan are down with modest losses. Meanwhile, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Malaysia are in positive territory.
Nikkei 225 dipped 254.67 points or 1.29% to 19,482.97, Taiwan Weighted contracted 71.13 points or 0.79% to 8,904.98, KOSPI Index crumbled 4.66 points or 0.23% to 2,011.55, Straits Times declined 15.50 points or 0.47% to 3,269.49 and Jakarta Composite was down by 52.98 points or 1.09% to 4,818.59.
On the flip side, Shanghai Composite rose 45.58 points or 1.30% to 3,552.78, Hang Seng gained 805.67 points or 3.43% to 24,322.23 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 5.77 points or 0.34% to 1,701.60.