Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Thursday, with investors treading cautiously amid continued uncertainty about the outlook for US monetary policy following last week's Federal Reserve decision, even as soft manufacturing activity data from the US and China on Wednesday added to concerns about the global economy. Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei share average declined as Japanese markets reopened after a three-day national holiday to face news of weak Chinese and US factory performance. Among the other Asian markets, Hong Kong and Taiwan are also lower. Bucking the trend, Shanghai and South Korea are up with modest gains. The markets in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia are closed on Thursday in observance of Hari Raya Haji.
Nikkei 225 declined 356.88 points or 1.97% to 17,713.33, Hang Seng dipped 199.11 points or 0.93% to 21,103.80 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 38.44 points or 0.47% to 8,154.98.
On the flip side, KOSPI Index surged 0.35 points or 0.02% to 1,944.99 and Shanghai Composite was up by 8.28 points or 0.27% to 3,124.17.