Asian markets trade mostly lower in early deals on Monday

Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading down in the early deals on Monday, tracking the weak cues from Wall Street and European markets after crude oil prices tumbled on Friday to its worst closing level since February 2009. Investors are also treading cautiously ahead of the US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision due later in the week. Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei share average tumbled as global oil prices extended their plunge, adding to nervousness ahead of an expected US interest rate hike this week. Though, Chinese market bucked trends and traded up, boosted by upticks in shares of brokerages and banks, as investors gained some confidence after the China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS), an unit of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), said the yuan can remain stable in medium to long term. Among the other Asian markets, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Taiwan are notably lower. Bucking the trend, Shanghai is in positive territory.

Nikkei 225 dropped 412.44 points or 2.14% to 18,818.04, Hang Seng declined 182.68 points or 0.85% to 21,281.37, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI crumbled 12.58 points or 0.77% to 1,627.56, Jakarta Composite dipped 49.71 points or 1.13% to 4,343.81, KOSPI Index decreased 20.14 points or 1.03% to 1,928.48, Straits Times slipped 25.61 points or 0.90% to 2,809.02, and Taiwan Weighted was down by 63.60 points or 0.78% to 8,052.29.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was up by 18.58 points or 0.54% to 3,453.16.