Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading in red in the early deals on Friday following the overnight release of weak US retail sales data raised worries about a slowdown in the world's largest economy. Meanwhile, China and Hong Kong stocks dropped as latest official data raised deflation fears. investors were worried about uncertainties over the Sino-US trade negotiations. Among the other Asian markets, Nikkei, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, and South Korea are lower. However, Malaysia is higher.
Nikkei 225 declined 255.89 points or 1.21% to 20,883.82, Taiwan Weighted dipped 5.25 points or 0.05% to 10,083.76, Hang Seng dropped 467.62 points or 1.64% to 27,964.43, Straits Times slipped 12.16 points or 0.37% to 3,241.00, Jakarta Composite decreased 21.68 points or 0.34% to 6,398.34, Shanghai Composite contracted 16.87 points or 0.62% to 2,702.83, and KOSPI Shares down by 34.08 points or 1.53% to 2,191.77.
On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI up by 0.94 points or 0.06% to 1,690.00,
