Asian equity benchmarks were trading mostly in the red in Monday’s morning deals with investors choosing to trim down positions on account of U.S. lawmakers’ wrangle over the debt limit and partial government shutdown. Democrats and Republicans remained far apart on ending the government shutdown, let alone reaching a deal on the US borrowing limit by October 17 to avoid an unprecedented default. Back on Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan are trading weak, while Singapore’s Seoul Composite was up marginally.
Hang Seng declined 169.16 points or 0.73% to 22,969.38, Jakarta Composite dipped 6.17 points or 0.14% to 4,383.17, KLSE Composite slipped 0.55 points or 0.03% to 1,776.01, Nikkei 225 dropped 123.31 points or 0.88% to 13,901.00, Seoul Composite shed 3.23 points or 0.16% to 1,993.75 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 20.79 points or 0.25% to 8,343.76.
On the flip side, Straits Times was up by 0.22 points or 0.01% to 3,138.30.
