Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading down in the early deals on Tuesday as the oil price rally that boosted global equity markets reversed, while the euro and sterling were hit by uncertainty over Britain's membership in the European Union. Though, gains in energy and material stocks capped the extent of losses. Hong Kong stocks traded slightly lower amid a cautious mood as investors pared back bets ahead of Wednesday’s Budget speech. Meanwhile, the Japanese market is lower as a stronger yen weighed on exporters' shares. Among the other Asian markets, Shanghai, South Korea, and Indonesia are down with modest losses. Bucking the trend, Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan are marginally higher.
Nikkei 225 dropped 51.42 points or 0.32% to 16,059.63, Hang Seng declined 104.16 points or 0.54% to 19,359.93, KOSPI Index slipped 4.83 points or 0.25% to 1,911.53, Shanghai Composite dipped 36.88 points or 1.26% to 2,890.29, and Jakarta Composite was down by 34.26 points or 0.73% to 4,674.36.
On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted surged 4.17 points or 0.05% to 8,330.85, Straits Times added 9.82 points or 0.37% to 2,670.47, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 8.91 points or 0.53% to 1,683.50.