Asian markets mostly trade lower in early deals on Wednesday

All the Asian equity indices barring Nikkei 225 are trading in red terrain in the early deals on Wednesday after Chinese manufacturing data signaled persistent weakness in the world’s second-largest economy. Disappointing earnings from blue-chip Chinese companies also weighed on stocks in Chinese market. Meanwhile, Japanese stock market traded higher with financial, precision instruments, communications and technology stocks surging higher on strong buying support, but buying was tempered as investors were wary of the looming local reporting season. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Taiwan, Indonesia, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Shanghai are trading lower. Shanghai Composite dropped 9.26 points or 0.45% to 2,063.57, Hang Seng declined by 164.54 points or 0.72% to 22,566.14, Jakarta Composite contracted 4.78 points or 0.10% to 4,893.43, KLSE Composite dipped by 0.22 points or 0.01% to 1,866.20, Straits Times decreased 19.17 points or 0.58% to 3,258.36, Seoul Composite crumbled by 1.83 points or 0.09% to 2,002.39 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 11.48 points or 0.13% to 8,963.23. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was up by 113.83 points or 0.79% to 14,502.60.