Asian markets trade mostly lower in early deals on Wednesday

Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Wednesday after upbeat US economic reports led to renewed speculation that the US Federal Reserve could raise interest rates next month. Stock markets in Hong Kong and China fell after a top Chinese official made no mention of a trading link between the two cities. Meanwhile, the Japanese stocks declined despite the market digested stronger-than-expected GDP data that initially seemed unlikely to support further stimulus or the delay of a consumption tax hike, both widely expected by the market. In Japan, provisional GDP for the first quarter rose 1.7% year-on-year and at a 0.4% pace quarter-on-quarter, both handily above expectations. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia are also in negative territory. Bucking the trend, Indonesia is edging higher.

Nikkei 225 dipped 67.22 points or 0.40% to 16,585.58, Hang Seng dropped 337.13 points or 1.68% to 19,781.67, Taiwan Weighted decreased 7.66 points or 0.09% to 8,132.82, KOSPI Index declined 15.70 points or 0.80% to 1,952.36, Straits Times contracted 10.73 points or 0.39% to 2,770.38, Shanghai Composite slipped 49.40 points or 1.74% to 2,794.29, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 0.07 points to 1,633.32.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was up by 5.60 points or 0.12% to 4,734.76.