Most Asian stock markets trade lower as crude oil prices slip further

Most Asian stock markets were trading lower on Tuesday (19 July), with the Shanghai Composite Index down 0.64% at 3,023.98 as of 6.23am GMT, despite a positive Wall Street close overnight and follows a further decline in crude oil prices.

The recent investor optimism over Asian stock markets seems to have been offset by the decline in oil prices. Ayako Sera, market economist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank in Tokyo, said while weaker oil prices had a negative impact on related sectors, Asian markets were trading lower amid profit-taking. "It's hard to maintain consistent optimism when markets attain such high levels, and some profit-taking is natural," he was quoted as saying by Reuters.

The SoftBank Group, the Japanese telecommunications and internet corporation, was trading more than 10% lower as of 6.37am GMT amid its decision to acquire UK chip-designer ARM Holdings. This comes despite some analysts opining that the $32bn (£24.22, €28.91) bid was a good bargain for SoftBank. "ARM's purchase is a coup. It's probably the best semiconductor-related company in the world. They have 95% market share [in the smartphone architecture market], all of the processes that go into mobile architecture," Amir Anvarzadeh from BGC Securities told CNBC.

Indices in the rest of Asia traded as follows on 19 July at 6.42am GMT:

Overnight (18 July), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18,533.05, up 0.09%, while the FTSE 100 closed at 6,695.42, up 0.39%

Among commodities, oil prices declined amid an increase in crude inventory restoring fears of another major over supply. While WTI crude oil was trading lower by 0.29% at $45.11 a barrel, Brent crude was trading 0.32% lower at $46.81 a barrel as of 6.49am GMT.