Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading down in the early deals on Wednesday amid worries about China's economy after the country's central bank fixed the yuan at a fresh five-year low against the US dollar. Further, geopolitical tensions and speculation about a nuclear test by North Korea also weighed on investor sentiment. Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei share average fell as worries about China's volatile markets continued to rattle investors' nerves. Among the other Asian markets, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, and Singapore are also in negative territory. Bucking the trend, Shanghai, Indonesia and Malaysia are marginally higher.
Nikkei 225 slipped 194.79 points or 1.06% to 18,179.21, Hang Seng dropped 194.41 points or 0.92% to 20,994.31, Straits Times declined 19.68 points or 0.69% to 2,814.55, Taiwan Weighted decreased 64.66 points or 0.80% to 8,010.45 and KOSPI Index was down by 8.32 points or 0.43% to 1,922.21.
On the flip side, Shanghai Composite increased 22.53 points or 0.69% to 3,310.24, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI added 4.64 points or 0.28% to 1,670.34, and Jakarta Composite was up by 55.33 points or 1.21% to 4,613.15.