Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Tuesday, on attempts to lock in profits amid continuing U.S. tax-reform efforts. The indices also trimmed weighing on weakness in technology stocks after the Nasdaq pulled back overnight. Japan's Nikkei trading lower. Among the other Asian markets, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan and Indonesia are trading lower. Bucking the trend, South Korea and China are edging higher.
Nikkei 225 dripped 41.29 points or 0.18% to 22,665.87, Taiwan Weighted lower 77.54 points or 0.73% to 10,573.57, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI dipped 0.28 points or 0.02% to 1,712.85, Hang Seng reduced 86.65 points or 0.3% to 29,051.63, and Jakarta Composite was also down by 14.16 points or 0.24% to 5,984.04.
On the flip side, Shanghai Composite gained 1.98 points or 0.06% to 3,311.60 and KOSPI Index was up by 6.6 points or 0.26% to 2,508.27.