Most Asian stock markets decline following Trump's failure on Obamacare

While most Asian stock market indices were trading lower on Monday (27 March), the Shanghai Composite was up 0.14% at 3,274.01 as of 4.47am GMT following US President Donald Trump's failure to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act, often referred to as Obamacare.

Investors are said to now doubt Trump's ability to push through his other policy initiatives such as tax reforms and infrastructure spending.

"The failure of the US Republican party to pass legislation repealing the universal healthcare act may come back to bite markets. The failure of the Obamacare repeal is not economically significant, but a hostile parliament threatens the positive outlook," Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets, was cited by CNBC as commenting on the same.

Indices in the region were trading as follows at 5.32am GMT:

On 24 March, the FTSE 100 closed 0.05% lower at 7,336.82 while the S&P 500 index closed 0.08% lower at 2,343.98.

Among commodities, oil prices declined amid investors' doubts that Opec-led supply cuts would not be able to offset the record US crude inventories. As of 12.57am EDT, WTI crude oil was down 0.31% at $47.82 (£38.17) a barrel, while Brent Crude was trading 0.16% lower at $50.72 a barrel.