Asian markets trade mostly in the red

Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading in the negative territory in early deals on Monday, tracking weak cues from Wall Street, while lingering worries about Ukraine and some disappointing earnings reports too had hurt sentiment. The sentiments in the region remained cautious as investors remained on sidelines ahead of some crucial events including the US Federal Reserve’s monetary policy review later this week. The Japanese stock market declined sharply with investors pressed sales at several counters. On the economic front, retail sales in Japan surged 11.0 percent on year in March. That was in line with forecasts following the 3.6 percent gain in February.

Shanghai Composite slipped 25.09 points or 1.23% to 2,011.43, Hang Seng declined by 86.22 points or 0.39% to 22,137.31, Jakarta Composite was down by 49.55 points or 1.01% to 4,848.10, Straits Times decreased by 6.19 points or 0.19% to 3,261.38 and Nikkei 225 was down by 176.56 points or 1.22% to 14,252.70.

KLSE Composite gained by 0.94 points or 0.05% to 1,861.92, Seoul Composite gained 3.26 points or 0.17% to 1,974.92 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 40.51 points or 0.46% to 8,814.63.