Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading down in the early deals on Wednesday, with the negative lead overnight from Wall Street and the fall in crude oil prices denting investor sentiment. Weak trade data from China on Tuesday has stoked concerns about a global economic slowdown. Besides, investors were being cautious ahead of the European Central Bank monetary policy meeting on Thursday and meetings of the Bank of Japan and Federal Reserve due the following week. Meanwhile, Japanese shares fell as exporters retreated after the yen gained on reignited concern about global growth. Among the other Asian markets, Shanghai, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia are also lower. Bucking the trend, Singapore is up with modest gains. The Indonesian market is closed in observance of Hindu New Year holiday.
Nikkei 225 dropped 197.46 points or 1.18% to 16,585.69, Hang Seng dipped 121.15 points or 0.61% to 19,890.43, Shanghai Composite decreased 84.17 points or 2.90% to 2,817.21, Taiwan Weighted declined 71.12 points or 0.82% to 8,593.19, KOSPI Index slipped 2.61 points or 0.13% to 1,943.51, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 7.59 points or 0.45% to 1,680.27.
On the flip side, Straits Times was up by 8.93 points or 0.32% to 2,787.70.