Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading down in the early deals on Tuesday, following declines on Wall Street overnight, as the war of words between North Korea and the US escalated. Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei average slipped slightly as tech shares and Apple suppliers declined, tracking their US counterparts overnight, while concerns over North Korea sapped risk appetite. Among the other Asian markets, Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia are trading lower. Bucking the trend, Shanghai is in positive territory.
Nikkei 225 dropped 68.99 points or 0.34% to 20,328.59, Taiwan Weighted contracted 29.19 points or 0.28% to 10,306.70, Straits Times slipped 9.79 points or 0.30% to 3,206.12, Jakarta Composite declined 16.08 points or 0.27% to 5,878.53, Hang Seng dipped 8.47 points or 0.03% to 27,491.87, KOSPI Index decreased 8.2 points or 0.34% to 2,372.20, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 6.92 points or 0.39% to 1,762.22.
On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was up by 2.36 points or 0.07% to 3,343.90.