Asian equities trade on a cautious note on Thursday

Stock markets in the Asian region exhibited mixed trends on Thursday with most markets trading in close proximity with their previous closing levels as investors at large remained cautious, lacking any catalyst to prop up sentiments. Market participants lacked conviction to open fresh bets as European leaders overnight failed to carve out a concrete decision to resolve the region’s onerous debt crisis. While the leaders called on Greece to stay in the single currency union and stick with the budget cuts, they also advised to prepare contingency plans in case Greece quits the single currency area.

The uncertainty over European Union’s future kept investors in tight spot as they awaited the announcement of HSBC flash manufacturing PMI data from the world’s second largest Chinese economy later in the session. The equity index in China traded with moderate cuts of around a quarter percent ahead of the PMI data release which is an important economic indicator. However, the benchmarks in South Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia traded with a slight green tick in the session.

Shanghai Composite declined 5.40 points or 0.23% to 2,358.04, Hang Seng Index fell 116.36 points or 0.62% to 18,669.83, Nikkei 225 dropped 24.55 points or 0.29% to 8,532.05, Straits Times Index eased 1.01 points or 0.04% to 2,781.43 and Taiwan Weighted inched down 10.37 points or 0.15% to 7,137.38.

On the flipside, Jakarta Composite gained 5.35 points or 0.13% to 3,986.93, KLSE Composite rose 4.10 points or 0.27% to 1,543.81 and KOSPI Composite Index added 2.60 points or 0.14% to 1,811.22.