Most of the Asian market indices are trading in red in early deals on Friday as the threat of a US government shutdown and investors fretted about additional US interest rate hikes in 2019. Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei index is lower as the yen held gains on safe-haven demand amid political brinkmanship in Washington. Among the other Asian markets, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Indonesia, and Shanghai are lower. Bucking the trend, Malaysia is in positive territory.
Nikkei 225 dropped 301.59 points or 1.48% to 20,090.99, Straits Times tumbled 7.64 points or 0.25% to 3,042.98, Shanghai Composite declined 25.49 points or 1.01% to 2,510.78, Hang Seng dipped 53.35 points or 0.21% to 25,570.18, Taiwan Weighted decreased 17.73 points or 0.18% to 9,656.79, Jakarta Composite slipped 19.76 points or 0.32% to 6,128.12, and KOSPI Shares down by 6.42 points or 0.31% to 2,053.70.
On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI up by 3.26 points or 0.20% to 1,653.82.
