Most of the Asian markets are trading in red in early deals on Wednesday despite the overnight gains on Wall Street as worries about escalating trade tensions been the world's two largest economies weighed on sentiments. Investors digested news that China is seeking the World Trade Organization's permission to impose trade sanctions on the US Crude oil prices rose more than 1 percent in Asian trades after gaining more than 2 percent overnight. Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei fell as chip-related stocks tracked weakness in their US counterparts overnight and as machine tool makers weakened after downbeat industry data. Among the other Asian markets, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan are lower. Bucking the trend, Indonesia is higher.
Nikkei 225 dipped 103.57 points or 0.46% to 22,561.12, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI contracted 11.62 points or 0.65% to 1,787.55, KOSPI Index slipped 9.52 points or 0.42% to 2,273.68, Hang Seng dropped 104.66 points or 0.40% to 26,317.89, Straits Times crumbled 3.39 points or 0.11% to 3,106.52, Shanghai Composite decreased 8.91 points or 0.34% to 2,655.89, and Taiwan Weighted down by 83.49 points or 0.78% to 10,668.81.
On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was up by 30.49 points or 0.52% to 5,861.61.
