Asian Markets trade mostly in red in early deals on Wednesday

19 May 2021 Evaluate
Most of the Asian equity benchmarks traded lower in early deals on Wednesday, due to risk aversion amid continued spike in coronavirus cases, and the extending restriction and lockdowns to contain it spurred worries about global economic health. Meanwhile, speculators also awaited for inflation outlook and monetary policy stance of Federal Reserve as its last meeting minutes is due today. Banking sector and technological stocks mostly down. While oil stocks retreated with the negative crude oil rates overnight and miners weak with decline in gold rates. Stock markets of Hong Kong and South Korea are closed for holidays. Taiwan index has been most volatile this week than in over 30 years as it sprung a 6% pullback yesterday after seeing the biggest intraday fall in over 45 years. While, Japan’s Nikkei tumbled most in the session of about 1.54%, paring most of its earlier session gains as the players side lined  amid the accelerating daily coronavirus infection rates caused by highly contagious variants of the novel corona virus and the weak pace in vaccine roll out. Meanwhile, US equities extended loss for the second consecutive day followed by subdued housing data and on mounting inflationary concerns. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite also in negative pace. Among the Asian markets, Japan, China, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia are trading lower. On the flip side, Taiwan is trading slightly higher.

Nikkei 225 down by 436.23 points or 1.54% to 27,970.61, Straits Times slipped 25.62 points or 0.82% to 3,117.01, Shanghai Composite narrowed by 14.63 points or 0.41% 3,514.38, Jakarta Composite decreased by 44.16 points or 0.76% to 5,790.23 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI declined by 14.81 points 0.93% to 1,576.51.

Bucking the trend, Taiwan Weighted widened 40.40 points or 0.25% to 16,186.38.


© 2026 The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved. MoneyWorks4Me ® is a registered trademark of The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd.

×