Nikkei 225 drives rest of Asia lower, US data in focus

The Asian equity markets kicked-off the day on a positive note, reaching fresh one-year highs after the US stocks hit record highs. However, risk conditions deteriorated somewhat dragging the region’s indices back in the red, as oil prices turned negative.

Moreover, a lack of fresh fundamental drivers also kept the sentiment undermined around the stocks, with Japan’s Nikkei leading rest of Asia lower. The financial and retail sector stocks emerged the main laggards, and therefore weighed heavily on the indices.

The Japanese benchmark index, the Nikkei 225 drops -0.25% to 16,827. The Australian markets trade modestly flat, with the S&P/ASX 200 now trading -0.08% at 5,535 points.

The Chinese equities eased-off seven-month tops, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite index muted below 3,400 mark; the CSI300 index also trades marginally lower around  3,125. While Hong Kong trades almost unchanged at 22,930 levels.

Looking ahead, markets expect a flurry of crucial macro updates from across the globe to have significant on the investors’ sentiment, which therefore, justifies the cautious tone in the markets.