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Asian Stocks Fall Amid Brexit Uncertainties

Investing.com - Asian stocks fell in morning trade on Wednesday following another defeat of U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal.

China’s Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component were down 0.2% and 0.8% respectively. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 0.5%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 slid 1.5% after data showed the country’s machinery orders fell in January at the fastest pace in four months.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s KOSPI traded 0.8% lower. Down under, Australia’s ASX 200 lost 0.5%.

Fresh Brexit uncertainties were cited as headwinds for Asian stocks today after U.K. lawmakers rejected the terms of May’s Brexit deal to withdraw from the European Union (EU).

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Parliament rejected the deal in a 391 to 242 vote." A “no deal” scenario remains the default option, May said. However, the route forward is uncertain as the Prime Minister said there would be two more votes for the U.K. Parliament this week to decide whether the U.K. should leave the 28-member bloc with no deal or request a delay to its original departure date, due March 29.

“I continue to believe that by far the best outcome is that the U.K. leaves the EU in an orderly fashion with a deal, and that the deal we have negotiated is the best and indeed the only deal available,” she told lawmakers.

Meanwhile, Donald Tusk, a spokesman for the European Council President, said the EU “regrets the outcome” and that they would consider an extension to reach an agreement should there be a “reasoned request.”

The news came one day after May’s deputy David Lidington said that the Prime Minister has secured “legally binding changes” that “strengthen and improve” the nation’s divorce deal from the EU.

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