Asian markets trade lower in early deals on Tuesday

Extending their southward journey, most Asian equity indices are trading in the red in early deals on Tuesday, as investors remained concerned that the Fed would start tapering its stimulus after last week's flurry of data. Indonesia’s stock market led the Asian decliners with over 5 percent drop as investors worried about the looming balance of payments crisis following Friday’s data showing a wider-than-anticipated current account deficit. Meanwhile, the currencies around the region suffered under the overarching concern that the Fed will indeed start scaling back its stimulus programme next month. Indonesia’s rupiah fell 1.6 per cent to 10713 against the US dollar, its lowest since April 2009. The South Korean won dropped 0.7 per cent - on pace for its biggest loss this month - to 1123.3 per dollar, its lowest since August 2. On the other hand, the Chinese Shanghai Composite managed to keep its head above water.

Hang Seng declined 331.75 points or 1.48% to 22,131.95, Jakarta Composite crumbled 216.72 points or 5.02% to 4,096.80, KLSE Composite dropped 32.68 points or 1.84% to 1,745.68, Nikkei 225 shed 178.15 points or 1.29% to 13,579.98, Straits Times decreased 30.66 points or 0.97% to 3,142.67, Seoul Composite contracted 14.93 points or 0.78% to 1,902.71 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 47.02 points or 0.60% to 7,853.19

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was up by 1.67 points or 0.08% to 2,087.27.