Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Thursday as the overnight losses on Wall Street and the fall in commodity prices amid worries about slowing growth in China dented investor sentiment. Meanwhile, minutes of the US Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting revealed that most participants believed conditions for raising interest rates were approaching, but not yet achieved. However, a September rate hike remains a distinct possibility. The Japanese market dipped on worries about China's economy and Wall Street weakness, but Softbank Group Corp soared on news its president will buy the company's shares. Among the other Asian markets, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, South Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia are also lower. Bucking the trend, the Taiwan market is up with modest gains.
Nikkei 225 dropped 78.07 points or 0.39% to 20,144.56, Hang Seng crumbled 289.24 points or 1.25% to 22,878.61, Jakarta Composite decreased 37.45 points or 0.84% to 4,446.79, Shanghai Composite dipped 15.01 points or 0.40% to 3,779.10, KOSPI Index slipped 10.43 points or 0.54% to 1,928.95, Straits Times contracted 28.54 points or 0.94% to 3,012.71 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 9.27 points or 0.59% to 1,573.17.
On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted was up by 22.22 points or 0.28% to 8,044.06.