Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Wednesday, with European banking sector concerns and lower crude oil prices dulling investors' appetite for riskier assets. Though, gains in the US market on the back of the first presidential debate and a beat on consumer confidence, capped some losses. Japan's Nikkei share average fell as a strong yen continued to sour sentiment, while ex-dividend share price adjustments pressured the market. Meanwhile, China stocks sagged in thin trading, as investors' risk appetite continued to wane ahead of the week-long National Day holiday that starts on October1. Among the other Asian market, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, and South Korea are edging higher. Bucking the trend, Malaysia is in negative territory. The Taiwan’s markets were shut due to a typhoon.
Nikkei 225 dropped 243.39 points or 1.46% to 16,440.54, Hang Seng dipped 153.59 points or 0.65% to 23,418.31, Straits Times declined 3.63 points or 0.13% to 2,856.60, KOSPI Index decreased 9.02 points or 0.44% to 2,053.80, Shanghai Composite slipped 8.47 points or 0.28% to 2,989.70, and Jakarta Composite was down by 28.71 points or 0.53% to 5,390.89.
On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 2.12 points or 0.13% to 1,666.84.