Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Tuesday, taking cues from Wall Street and on mixed regional data and concerns about the dollar ahead of President Trump's State-of-the-Union speech later which could include more on recent trade spats. The Japanese market is losing, as a stronger yen denting investor sentiment. Investors also digested mixed local economic data. Japan reported household spending down 2.5% on month, more than the 0.6% decline seen on month and down 0.1% annually, compared to an increase of 1.6% expected on year for December. As well, the unemployment rate ticked up to 2.8% from a steady 3.7% seen and retail sales rose 3.6%, compared to a gain of 1.8% expected on year.
Nikkei 225 declined 317.66 points or 1.34% to 23,311.68, Hang Seng dropped 273.46 points or 0.83% to 32,693.43, Taiwan Weighted dipped 102.04 points or 0.91% to 11,119.77, Jakarta Composite contracted 77.11 points or 1.15% to 6,603.51, KOSPI Index slipped 28.63 points or 1.1% to 2,569.56, Shanghai Composite decreased 26 points or 0.74% to 3,497.00, Straits Times shed 16.18 points or 0.45% to 3,560.89, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 1.21 points or 0.06% to 1,869.31.
