Asian markets trade mostly lower on Monday

Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower on Monday, with weaker commodity prices and uncertainty about US President-elect Donald Trump's likely policies, as well as the make-up of his administration weighing on investor sentiment. Meanwhile, the Japanese market is advancing, with investor sentiment buoyed by a weaker yen and better-than-expected GDP data. On the economy front, the Cabinet Office said in Monday's preliminary report that Japan's gross domestic product climbed 2.2 percent on year in the third quarter of 2016. That was well above forecasts for a gain of 0.8 percent following the 0.7 percent increase in the three months prior. Among the other Asian markets, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan are trading lower. While the Shanghai market is in positive territory.

Hang Seng dipped 263.89 points or 1.17% to 22,267.20, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI slipped 14.99 points or 0.92% to 1,619.20, KOSPI Index decreased 6.33 points or 0.32% to 1,978.10, Straits Times declined 26.08 points or 0.93% to 2,788.52, Jakarta Composite slipped 151.06 points or 2.89% to 5,080.92, and Taiwan Weighted was down by 10.07 points or 0.11% to 8,947.69.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 gained 280.55 points or 1.61% to 17,655.34, and Shanghai Composite was up by 11.08 points or 0.35% to 3,207.12.