Asian markets joined the slump in global equities on Wednesday, as the U.S. dollar strengthened and oil prices lost ground. "Equity market sentiment seems to be rolling over globally as the wind begins to come out of the oil price rally," said Angus Nicholson, market analyst at spreadbetter IG, in a note Wednesday. At 12:15 p.m. HK/SIN time, U.S. crude futures were trading flat at $43.60 a barrel, after settling down 2.5 percent overnight, while Brent futures were trading 0.22 percent lower at $44.87, after falling 1.9 percent overnight. Helping to weigh oil and other commodities, the U.S. dollar advanced. A stronger greenback pressures commodity prices, which are denominated in dollars. In Sydney, the ASX 200 closed down 1.55 percent, or 82.74 points at 5,271.1, weighed by losses in the energy subindex, down 5.11 percent, and the materials subindex, which was lower by 5.91 percent. The mainland Chinese markets closed flat, with the Shanghai composite down 0.05 percent, or 1.5412 points at 2,991.1 and Shenzhen composite down 0.021 percent, or 0.397 points at 1,928.632. Across the Korean strait, the Kospi closed down 0.49 percent, or 9.7 points at 1,976.71. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index shed 0.86 percent, at 3:11 p.m. HK/SIN.
