Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Wednesday on the continued chaotic US political situation weighing on expectations for economic policies favoring tax cuts and higher spending and as key lawmakers call for a memo reportedly written by former FBI director James Comey on Trump discussing an active investigation to be released. Further, mixed cues from Wall Street also fuelled the downtrend. Meanwhile, Japanese stocks dropped after the dollar eased against the yen on weak US economic data, while financials stocks underperformed hit by lower US yields.
Nikkei 225 dipped 114.61 points or 0.58% to 19,805.21, Hang Seng dropped 67.83 points or 0.27% to 25,268.11, Taiwan Weighted decreased 56.72 points or 0.57% to 9,974.77, Jakarta Composite declined 20.02 points or 0.35% to 5,626.98, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI slipped 6.67 points or 0.38% to 1,771.48, KOSPI Index contracted 6.25 points or 0.27% to 2,289.08, Shanghai Composite crumbled 3.25 points or 0.1% to 3,109.71, and Straits Times was down by 13.54 points or 0.42% to 3,214.17.