Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Thursday even as Chinese trade data topped forecasts and imports recorded their first annual rise since late 2014, a promising sign for global demand that gave the Australia dollar a lift. Exports rose in August for the first time since late 2014, while a contraction in imports narrowed in a positive sign for global economic growth. Exports expanded by an unexpectedly strong 1.5 percent, up from July's 12.5 percent plunge. Exports fell 2.8 percent but that also was better than forecast and an improvement over the previous month's 4.4 percent contraction. The export gain was a positive sign for Chinese leaders who are trying to protect millions of trade-supported jobs. The improvement in imports suggested lackluster Chinese domestic demand might be firming up. There was mixed lead overnight from Wall Street and as investors stayed cautious ahead of the release of European Central Bank's monetary policy decision later in the day. The ECB is expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but may announce an extension of its quantitative easing program. Japanese shares were weighed down by a stronger yen and plagued by uncertainty about the outlook for Japanese monetary policy. Among the other Asian markets, Shanghai, South Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia are lower. Bucking the trend, Hong Kong and Taiwan is edging higher.
Nikkei 225 dipped 172.40 points or 1.01% to 16,840.04, Straits Times declined 12.18 points or 0.42% to 2,881.47, Shanghai Composite dropped 0.84 points or 0.03% to 3,091.08, Taiwan Weighted decreased 1.26 points or 0.01% to 9,257.81, KOSPI Index slipped 5.16 points or 0.25% to 2,056.72, Jakarta Composite contracted 6.92 points or 0.13% to 5,374.43, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 0.66 points or 0.04% to 1,688.91.
On the flip side, Hang Seng was up by 93.13 points or 0.39% to 23,834.94.