Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading in green terrain in the morning deals on Wednesday before the release of Federal Reserve minutes. Further, the speculation that the Chinese government will come out with more stimulus in the foreseeable future and further, consumer companies advancing also contributed to the upmove. Meanwhile, Japanese markets declined as the yen's rise to a three-week high against the greenback amid fading hopes for some monetary easing by the central bank triggered heavy selling across the board. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Shanghai, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia are trading higher, while South Korea is trading weak.
Shanghai Composite rose 2.60 points or 0.12% to 2,100.89, Hang Seng increased by 228.43 points or 1.01% to 22,825.40, Jakarta Composite spurted 0.36 points or 0.01% to 4,921.40, KLSE Composite soared 1.78 points or 0.10% to 1,854.09, Straits Times added by 3.07 points or 0.10% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 34.89 points or 0.39% to 8,923.14.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 tumbled 279.86 points or 1.92% to 14,327.02 and KOSPI Composite was down by 0.34 points or 0.02% to 1,992.69.