Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in early deals on Monday, pressured by worries about U.S.-China tensions amid Trump administration has notified Chinese telecom giant Huawei's suppliers, including chipmaker Intel, that certain licenses to sell to the Chinese company will be revoked. Moreover, the weak cues from Wall street on Friday with the negative reaction to earnings results from major banks and weak US retail sales data also added the downside. Oil stocks in lower note while tech shares mostly advanced. Japan’s Nikkei is in lower note with the profit booking after recent sharp gains. Moreover, investors side-lined ahead to Japan s industrial production data for November which is due today. Among the Asian markets, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, and Malaysia are in positive territory. Bucking the trend, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and China trade higher.
Nikkei 225 down by 216.19 points or 0.76% to 28,302.99, Straits Times declined by 21.80 points or 0.73% to 2,983.07, and Taiwan Weighted curtailed 89.02 points or 0.57% to 15,527.37, KOSPI Index diminished 45.76 points or 1.48% to 3,040.14, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI dipped by 3.88 points 0.97% to 1,611.16.
On the flip side, Hang Seng rose by 138.93 points or 0.22% to 28,712.79, Jakarta Composite added 34.31 points or 0.54% to 6,407.72, and Shanghai Composite up by 24.95 points or 0.70% to 3,591.33.
