Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading in red in the early deals on Thursday, After President Donald Trump issued an executive order to help protect the United States against foreign adversaries that are taking advantage of technological vulnerabilities to threaten US communications systems. Japan's Nikkei index is in negative territory despite the positive cues from Wall Street as worries about trade tensions continued to weigh on investor sentiments. Dip in major exporters with a stronger yen also weighed on the Nikkei. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia and Malaysia are in negative territory. Bucking the trend, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore are in positive trend.
Nikkei 225 down 145.92 points or 0.69% to 21,042.64, Taiwan Weighted dips 18.13 points or 0.17% to 10,542.58, KOSPI Shares decreases 17.95 points or 0.86% to 2,074.83, Jakarta Composite diminish 57.05 points or 0.95% to 5,923.84 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI down by 2.37 points or 0.15% to 1,609.06.
On the flip side, Hang Seng rose 68.20 points or 0.24% to 28,336.91, Shanghai Composite enlarges by 8.33 points or 0, 28% to 2,947.01, and Straits Times rises by 1.77 points or 0.05% to 3,220.54.
