Asian equity benchmarks are trading down in the early deals on Tuesday, following the release of weak trade data from China. The overnight surge in crude oil and iron ore prices had earlier boosted resources stocks. Data released showed that China's exports in February fell 25.4 percent in dollar terms from a year ago, while imports declined for a sixteenth straight month. China shares fell and were on track to end a five-day winning streak on worries that the government might try to cool speculative activity in the country’s top property markets. Meanwhile, Japanese shares fell, with the Topix index dropping for a second day, after gains in commodity producers were offset by a drop in exporters as data showed the country’s economy shrank in the fourth quarter. Revised data showed Japan's GDP contracted at a 1.1 percent annualized pace in the last quarter, compared to a 1.4 percent expansion in the July-September quarter. It was a modest improvement over the previous estimate of a 1.4 percent contraction in October-December.
Nikkei 225 declined 185.73 points or 1.10% to 16,725.59, Straits Times contracted 14.81 points or 0.52% to 2,808.70, Hang Seng dipped 183.85 points or 0.91% to 19,975.87, KOSPI Index slipped 16.47 points or 0.84% to 1,941.40, Shanghai Composite decreased 47.01 points or 1.62% to 2,850.33, Taiwan Weighted dropped 35.00 points or 0.40% to 8,624.55, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI crumbled 5.50 points or 0.32% to 1,692.43, and Jakarta Composite was down by 16.45 points or 0.34% to 4,815.13.