Beijing, China (BBN)-Share markets in China and Japan were heading lower after Wall Street fell on the back of a drop in oil prices and as China’s poor trading figures were digested.
West Texas Intermediate oil fell 4.3 per cent to $36.28 a barrel and Brent crude dropped 3.4 per cent to $39.45 a barrel, reports BBC.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost as much as 1.5 per cent in early trading, and was later down 1.33 per cent to 16,560.7 points.
China’s mainland Shanghai Composite was down 1.66 per cent to 2,853.02.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 0.55 per cent to 19,902.89.
Trade figures from Beijing released on Tuesday showed that Chinese exports suffered their sharpest drop in almost seven years, adding to concerns over the health of the world’s second largest economy.
Exports sank by 25.4 per cent from a year earlier, while imports fell 13.8 per cent.
In South Korea, the Kospi index was down 0.12 per cent to 1,943.95 points.
Australia was the only market in positive territory early on Tuesday with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index up 0.3 per cent to 5,121.7.
Shares in some of the country’s big lenders were pulling the market up in morning trade.
Commonwealth Bank shares were up almost 1 per cent and Westpac rose 1.3 per cent.
BBN/SK/AD
