Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading down in the early deals on Thursday as comments from the US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen suggested that the central bank remains on track to raise interest rates later this month. Investors were also cautious after news of a mass shooting in California that left at least 14 people dead. Meanwhile, the Japanese market is marginally lower, as investor sentiment was dampened by the weak cues overnight from Wall Street and the fall in crude oil prices. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia are also lower. Bucking the trend, Shanghai and Taiwan are marginally higher.
Nikkei 225 dropped 31.99 points or 0.16% to 19,906.14, Hang Seng declined 60.89 points or 0.27% to 22,418.80, KOSPI Index crumbled 19.76 points or 0.98% to 1,989.53, Jakarta Composite dipped 4.79 points or 0.11% to 4,541.07, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI contracted 2.63 points or 0.16% to 1,674.14, and Straits Times was down by 10.12 points or 0.35% to 2,873.52.
On the flip side, Shanghai Composite surged 20.80 points or 0.59% to 3,557.71, and Taiwan Weighted was up by 19.25 points or 0.23% to 8,476.65.