Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Tuesday following the mixed cues from Wall Street and the fall in crude oil prices overnight. Investors turned cautious ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia's monetary policy decision later today and as they also await details of a 28 trillion yen fiscal stimulus package to be announced by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Meanwhile, Japanese shares fell as oil explorers slid on lower crude prices and investors awaited details on the country’s latest stimulus measures. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan are down with modest losses. Bucking the trend, Indonesia and Shanghai are up with modest gains. The Hong Kong market is closed following a typhoon warning.
Nikkei 225 slipped 130.49 points or 0.78% to 16,505.28, KOSPI Index dropped 9.23 points or 0.45% to 2,020.38, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 5.61 points or 0.34% to 1,659.62, Taiwan Weighted contracted 18.51 points or 0.20% to 9,062.20, and Straits Times was down by 29.11 points or 1.01% to 2,863.41.
On the flip side, Jakarta Composite added 20.72 points or 0.39% to 5,382.29, and Shanghai Composite was up by 0.74 points or 0.03% to 2,954.13.