Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Thursday in the lead up to Christmas, tracking the negative cues overnight from Wall Street after the Dow failed to reach the 20,000 mark. Meanwhile, Japanese stocks edged down from one-year highs as investors took profit from recent gainers such as financials in otherwise thinning trade ahead of the holiday season.
Nikkei 225 dropped 67.03 points or 0.34% to 19,377.46, Hang Seng dipped 184.55 points or 0.85% to 21,625.25, Taiwan Weighted slipped 55.63 points or 0.6% to 9,148.63, Jakarta Composite declined 16.89 points or 0.33% to 5,094.50, Shanghai Composite decreased 5.67 points or 0.18% to 3,131.76, KOSPI Index contracted 2.73 points or 0.13% to 2,035.23, Straits Times slipped 22.42 points or 0.77% to 2,879.28, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 2.22 points or 0.14% to 1,627.37.