Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Thursday, following the weak cues overnight from Wall Street amid lingering geopolitical concerns, while the US dollar slumped after President Donald Trump said that the greenback was getting too strong and he will not label China a currency manipulator. Japanese stocks posted fresh four-month lows as the yen spiked against the dollar after US President Donald Trump said the US currency was too strong, hitting automakers and tech shares hard. Among the other Asian markets, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Taiwan are in negative territory. Bucking the trend, Indonesia, Shanghai and South Korea are higher.
Nikkei 225 dropped 192.83 points or 1.04% to 18,359.78, Hang Seng decreased 16.65 points or 0.07% to 24,296.85, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI declined 5.55 points or 0.32% to 1,738.53, Jakarta Composite slipped 3.13 points or 0.06% to 5,641.02 and Straits Times was down by 20.89 points or 0.66% to 3,165.12.
On the flip side, Shanghai Composite added 4.05 points or 0.12% to 3,277.88, KOSPI Index gained 9.56 points or 0.45% to 2,138.47, and Taiwan Weighted was up by 25.05 points or 0.26% to 9,842.73.