Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Monday, tracking the modest losses on Wall Street Friday after comments from Federal Reserve officials raised concerns about a near-term interest rate hike. In addition, crude oil prices slipped more than 1 percent in early Asian trades after rising on Friday. The Japanese market is advancing after the yen weakened against the US dollar. Though, gains were limited as investors were cautiously focused on this week's meeting of global central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where the US Federal Reserve may provide an insight on the rate outlook. Among the other Asian markets, Shanghai, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Indonesia are in negative territory. Bucking the trend, Malaysia and Indonesia are higher.
Hang Seng declined 76.26 points or 0.33% to 22,860.96, Taiwan Weighted dropped 81.42 points or 0.90% to 8,952.85, Shanghai Composite decreased 19.73 points or 0.63% to 3,088.37, KOSPI Index dipped 13.76 points or 0.67% to 2,042.48, and Straits Times was down by 2.97 points or 0.10% to 2,841.05.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 jumped 22.95 points or 0.14% to 16,568.77, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI added 1.02 points or 0.06% to 1,688.70, and Jakarta Composite was up by 8.46 points or 0.16% to 5,424.50.