Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading in red in the early deals on Wednesday, following the mixed cues overnight from Wall Street and amid fresh Brexit uncertainties after UK lawmakers again resoundingly rejected the terms of Prime Minister Theresa May's deal for Britain to withdraw from the European Union. The Japanese market is lower as a stronger yen pulled down exporters' stocks and investors digested weaker-than-expected Japanese core machine orders data for the month of January. Among the other Asian markets, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Shanghai are lower. On the concern side, Taiwan, Indonesia and Malaysia are in positive territory.
Nikkei 225 declined 249.12 points or 1.16% to 21,254.57, Straits Times dropped 24.17 points or 0.75% to 3,188.08, KOSPI Shares dipped 12.16 points or 0.56% to 2,145.02, Hang Seng slipped 168.76 points or 0.58% to 28,752.11, and Shanghai Composite down by 11.30 points or 0.37% to 3,049.01.
On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted added 21.08 points or 0.20% to 10,364.41, Jakarta Composite gained 8.96 points or 0.14% to 6,362.73, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI up by 3.89 points or 0.23% to 1,675.17.
