Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Tuesday as caution reigned ahead of a potentially tense meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping later this week. Besides, the negative lead overnight from Wall Street following downbeat auto sales and manufacturing data also fuelled the downtrend. Japan's Nikkei share average fell as the safe-haven yen rose and as automakers tumbled on weaker-than-expected US sales. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia are also lower. Bucking the trend, Indonesia is modestly higher. The markets in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China are closed for public holidays.
Nikkei 225 dipped 193.00 points or 1.02% to 18,790.23, KOSPI Index contracted 2.01 points or 0.09% to 2,165.50, Straits Times slipped 5.89 points or 0.18% to 3,181.62, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 1.78 points or 0.10% to 1,743.71.
On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was up by 41.77 points or 0.74% to 5,648.56.