Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Tuesday despite the record closing highs overnight on Wall Street and the surge in crude oil prices. Investors mulled the potential impact of a Washington Post report that US President Donald Trump revealed highly classified information about the Islamic State during his meeting with Russian officials last week. However, White House National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster later denied the report. Meanwhile, Chinese markets were markedly lower, after data on Monday disappointed with retail sales and industrial production seeing slower growth in April, while fixed asset investment in the first four months of the year failed to meet expectations, rising just 8.9% compared with the same period the year before. Though, Japan's Nikkei share average rose to a 17-month high, drawing support from a sagging yen and Wall Street hitting record highs overnight. Among the other Asian markets, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia and Malaysia are all lower. Bucking the trend, South Korea is higher.
Hang Seng declined 63.3 points or 0.25% to 25,308.29, Taiwan Weighted decreased 32.79 points or 0.33% to 10,004.03, Jakarta Composite dropped 22.08 points or 0.39% to 5,666.79, Shanghai Composite slipped 10.49 points or 0.34% to 3,079.74, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI dipped 1.91 points or 0.11% to 1,776.74, and Straits Times was down by 32.30 points or 0.99% to 3,231.91.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 gained 37.28 points or 0.19% to 19,907.13, and KOSPI Index was up by 4.45 points or 0.19% to 2,295.10.