Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Monday as the decline in commodity prices, negative cues from Wall Street and weak Chinese manufacturing data dampened investor sentiment. The Japanese market declined, snapping a three-day winning streak, as a barrage of earning reports failed to dispel growing concerns over a slowdown in China's economy. Among the other Asian markets, Taiwan, Shanghai, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia are also lower. Meanwhile, Indonesia is in positive territory.
Nikkei 225 dipped by 75.49 points or 0.37% to 20,509.75, Hang Seng slipped 263.64 points or 1.07% to 24,372.64, KOSPI Index contracted 22.85 points or 1.13% to 2,007.31, Taiwan Weighted declined 143.72 points or 1.66% to 8,521.62, Shanghai Composite decreased 88.92 points or 2.43% to 3,574.80, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI dropped 2.45 points or 0.14% to 1,720.69 and Straits Times was down by 7.48 points or 0.23% to 3,195.02.
On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was up by 2.20 points or 0.05% to 4,804.73.