Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading down in the early deals on Tuesday, as investors turned risk averse, tracking the overnight sell-off on Wall Street and European markets amid rising concerns over slowing global economic growth and uncertainty over the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy. Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei share average tumbled to a 2-1/2-week low, with banks taking the brunt of the sell-off, while a stronger yen dragged down stocks across the board. Among the other Asian markets, Indonesia is also lower. Many of the markets in the region remained closed for the Lunar New Year holiday, including China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan.
Nikkei 225 dropped 904.03 points or 5.32% to 16,100.27, and Jakarta Composite was down by 37.46 points or 0.78% to 4,761.48.