Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Tuesday as a rout in oil prices to near seven-year lows knocked global energy company shares and commodity currencies. Investors moved to the sidelines ahead of next week's meeting where the Federal Reserve is expected to raise US interest rates. Meanwhile, the Japanese market slipped into negative territory, after initially rising in early trades as a strong revision to Japan's gross domestic product data for the third quarter showed that the country escaped recession.
Nikkei 225 dropped 199.87 points or 1.01% to 19,498.28, Hang Seng dipped 374.09 points or 1.68% to 21,829.13, Straits Times decreased 25.43 points or 0.88% to 2,875.49, Taiwan Weighted crumbled 82.70 points or 0.98% to 8,371.57, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI slipped 1.77 points or 0.11% to 1,670.23, Shanghai Composite contracted 47.05 points or 1.33% to 3,489.88, Jakarta Composite declined 22.27 points or 0.49% to 4,499.12, and KOSPI Index was down by 14.45 points or 0.74% to 1,949.22.