All the Asian equity benchmarks are trading higher in the early deals on Wednesday as China reported industrial profits and US data added to evidence a recovery in the world’s largest economy is intact. However, gains are just modest in the region as buying interest is somewhat subdued. The Japanese stock market improved, with the overnight positive close on Wall Street aiding sentiment. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, South Korea and Hong Kong are modestly higher, while Shanghai, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan are up marginally.
Shanghai Composite gained 3.21 points or 0.16% to 2,037.78, Hang Seng improved 192.12 points or 0.84% to 23,136.42, Jakarta Composite strengthened by 7.98 points or 0.16% to 4,971.90, KLSE Composite rose 0.59 points or 0.03% to 1,868.16, Nikkei 225 spurted by 50.64 points or 0.35% to 14,687.16, Straits Times increased by 1.26 points or 0.04% to 3,275.32, Seoul Composite jumped 12.61 points or 0.63% to 2,010.24 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 30.00 points or 0.33% to 9,085.29.