Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Wednesday after the surprise departure of President Donald Trump's top economic adviser, who was the administration's leading internal opponent of his planned tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum. Japan’s Nikkei share average edged lower as the resignation of a key White House adviser raised fears of a global trade conflict, which hurt steel and non-ferrous metals sectors. Among the other Asian markets, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong are in negative territory. Bucking the trend, Shanghai is higher.
Nikkei 225 declined 153 points or 0.71% to 21,264.76, Hang Seng dropped 107.69 points or 0.35% to 30,403.04, Jakarta Composite slipped 82.45 points or 1.27% to 6,417.66, Taiwan Weighted contracted 25.18 points or 0.23% to 10,759.16, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI dipped 10.07 points or 0.54% to 1,838.30, KOSPI Index decreased 2.26 points or 0.09% to 2,409.15, and Straits Times down by 27.27 points or 0.78% to 3,464.65.
On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was up by 4.6 points or 0.14% to 3,294.24.
