Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower on Wednesday due to waning optimism about Sino-US trade deal. The US imposed visa restrictions on Chinese officials and also expanded its trade blacklist to include some of China's top artificial intelligence firms, worsening market sentiments. Japan's Nikkei is notably weak with the firm safe-haven yen following the negative cues from Wall Street. South Korea’s market is closed for a holiday today. Among the other Asian markets, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taiwan, Indonesia and Malaysia are in negative trend.
Nikkei 225 dipped 152.51 points 0.71% to 21,435.27, Straits Times narrowed 12.82 points or 0.41% to 3,098.03, Hang Seng decreased 176.63 points or 0.68% to 25,716.77, Taiwan Weighted down 80.04 points or 0.73% to 10,937.27, Jakarta Composite dropped by 14.96 points or 0.25% to 6,024.64, Shanghai diminished 4.04 points 0.14% to 2,909.53, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI narrowed 8.55 points or 0.55% to 1,550.24.
