The Asian markets after a mixed start are mostly trading in red on Thursday, tailing the US markets and as Fed minutes of meeting reinforced the case for an interest-rate increase in 2016. The mood in the region was dampened by an unexpected drop in Chinese exports that spurred concern about the outlook for the global economy. China’s exports fell 10 percent in September from a year earlier, while imports declined 1.9 percent. While the Hang Seng market slumped over a percent, the Japanese market too has slipped into red after the yen reversed a decline against the dollar.
Hang Seng was down by 262.99 points or 1.12% to 23,144.06, Jakarta Composite was lower by 2.91 points or 0.05% to 5,361.70, KLSE Composite declined by 5.02 points or 0.30% to 1,662.01, Nikkei 225 lost 71.88 or 0.43% to 16,768.12, Straits Times was lower by 20.20 or 0.72% to 2,793.51.
On the other hand Shanghai Composite was tad higher by 0.24 points or 0.01% to 3,058.74.