Asian markets trade lower in early deals on Wednesday

Asian equity benchmarks are trading down in the early deals on Wednesday, following the overnight sell off on Wall Street amid a further slump in crude oil prices. Weak corporate earnings also dented investor sentiment. Meanwhile, Japanese stocks fell for the second day, wiping out most of its gains from last week’s Bank of Japan stimulus boost, after the biggest two-day drop in oil in almost seven years drove a global selloff of risk assets and as investors weighed earnings.

Nikkei 225 dropped 566.44 points or 3.19% to 17,184.24, Hang Seng contracted 483.44 points or 2.49% to 18,963.40, Straits Times dipped 46.52 points or 1.80% to 2,532.71, KOSPI Index decreased 16.94 points or 0.89% to 1,889.66, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI declined 13.97 points or 0.85% to 1,639.21, Jakarta Composite slipped 21.13 points or 0.46% to 4,566.30, Shanghai Composite crumbled 32.07 points or 1.17% to 2,717.50, and Taiwan Weighted was down by 51.61 points or 0.63% to 8,079.63.