Asian markets are trading mostly in red terrain in early deals on Wednesday after Donald Trump cast doubt on a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and appeared to hit out at a deal with China that averted a damaging trade war. The Japanese market is trading notably lower, as a stronger yen pulled down shares of exporters. On the economic front, the latest survey from Nikkei revealed that the manufacturing sector in Japan continued to expand in May, albeit at a slower pace, with a manufacturing PMI score of 52.5. That's down from 53.8 in April, although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. Japan will also provide March results for its all industry activity index as well as April figures for department store sales and machine tool orders on May 23. Among the other Asian markets, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and Shanghai are trading lower. On the other hand, South Korea and Indonesia are higher.
Hang Seng declined 325.34 points or 1.04% to 30,909.01, Nikkei 225 dropped 256.86 points or 1.12% to 22,703.48, Taiwan Weighted decreased 49.58 points or 0.45% to 10,889.15, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI tumbled 28.77 points or 1.56% to 1,816.26, Straits Times shed 36.90 points or 1.05% to 3,506.28 and Shanghai Composite down by 25.7 points or 0.8% to 3,188.65.
On the flip side, KOSPI Index increased 3.26 points or 0.13% to 2,468.83 and Jakarta Composite up by 63.81 points or 1.11% to 5,814.93.
