Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Tuesday, after downbeat economic data pressured Wall Street ahead of a key US jobs report that could provide important clues to the timing of the Federal Reserve's interest rate increase. The Japan's Nikkei share average edged down on soft manufacturing data from China and the United States, prompting investors to rotate out of cyclical shares to defensive shares such as drug makers. Among the other markets in the Asian region, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia are also in negative territory. Meanwhile, Shanghai and South Korea are higher.
Nikkei 225 dropped 25.88 points or 0.13% to 20,522.23, Hang Seng dipped 32.59 points or 0.13% to 24,378.83, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI slipped 17.46 points or 1.00% to 1,726.73, Jakarta Composite contracted 11.55 points or 0.24% to 4,788.63, Straits Times decreased 4.56 points or 0.14% to 3,188.23 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 52.81 points or 0.62% to 8,477.96.
On the flip side, Shanghai Composite increased 48.59 points or 1.34% to 3,671.49 and KOSPI Index was up by 7.75 points or 0.39 % to 2,016.24.