Asian equity markets ended mostly lower on Tuesday as economic and political uncertainty gripped global markets. Given the worries about the political landscape in Europe and lingering uncertainty surrounding Donald Trump's fiscal and trade policies, investors were apprehensive about holding riskier assets. Safe-haven assets such as the Japanese yen and gold gained ground as risk appetite waned. Japanese shares ended lower as caution crept in ahead of a meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US President Donald Trump due this weekend. Chinese shares ended down as the People's Bank of China refrained from adding cash into the system for a third straight session, underlining its tightening bias to deflate potential credit bubbles in the world's second-largest economy. Trading sentiment weakened further ahead of data expected to show that foreign exchange reserves fell for the seventh straight month by about $10.5 billion to $3 trillion in January.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 3,153.09 | -3.90 | -0.12 |
Hang Seng | 23,331.57 | -16.67 | -0.07 |
Jakarta Composite | 5,381.48 | -14.52 | -0.27 |
KLSE Composite | 1,688.84 | -2.40 | -0.14 |
Nikkei 225 | 18,910.78 | -65.93 | -0.35 |
Straits Times | 3,071.64 | 14.73 | 0.48 |
KOSPI Composite | 2,075.21 | -2.45 | -0.12 |
Taiwan Weighted | 9,554.56 | 16.55 | 0.17 |