Asian equity benchmarks are trading down in the early deals on Tuesday following the lackluster cues overnight from Wall Street and European markets, while weak commodity prices weighed on resources stocks. Further, investors awaited monetary policy announcements from central banks and the outcome of China's economic planning meeting. Meanwhile, the Japanese market is down with modest losses, following the lackluster cues overnight from Wall Street. Investors are also treading cautiously ahead of the central bank meetings in the US and Japan later this week.
Nikkei 225 declined 156.62 points or 0.83% to 18,790.50, KOSPI Index contracted 9.35 points or 0.46% to 2,038.73, Jakarta Composite slipped 57.80 points or 1.23% to 4,633.91, Hang Seng dropped 186.83 points or 0.81% to 22,929.42, Shanghai Composite crumbled 62.25 points or 1.82% to 3,367.33, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 9.58 points or 0.56% to 1,697.21, Straits Times dipped 23.51 points or 0.76% to 3,059.56, and Taiwan Weighted was down by 71.47 points or 0.82% to 8,673.89.