Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Tuesday tracking the mixed cues overnight from Wall Street amid doubts over the future of US tax reforms. The US dollar weakened following news that two additional Republican Senators have opposed the Republican healthcare bill. Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei share average fell to a more than one-week low after cyclical stocks lost ground as a stronger yen hit sentiment, while Toshiba Corp rallied after news a US hedge fund increased its stake in the tech company.
Nikkei 225 declined 100.91 points or 0.5% to 20,017.95, Hang Seng dropped 43.31 points or 0.16% to 26,427.27, Jakarta Composite decreased 23.04 points or 0.39% to 5,818.24, Shanghai Composite dipped 19.71 points or 0.62% to 3,156.76, KOSPI Index contracted 1.72 points or 0.07% to 2,423.38, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI slipped 0.8 points or 0.05% to 1,754.39, Taiwan Weighted crumbled 0.25 points or 0% to 10,457.29, and Straits Times was down by 1.44 points or 0.04% to 3,296.80.