Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading higher in the early deals on Monday, with a positive lead from Wall Street and encouraging reports on manufacturing activity in Japan and China. However, concerns about the situation in Iraq and Ukraine continue to weigh on the markets, limited their gains. The Japanese stock market surged on the back of a slightly weaker yen and reports showing an expansion in factory activities in Japan and China in June. On the economic front, an index monitoring the manufacturing sector in Japan came in with a score of 51.1 in May, up from 49.9 in April. That pushes the index into expansionary territory, as a score above 50 signals growth in a sector while a reading below means contraction. The Chinese Shanghai Composite improved following the Yuan strengthened after a private report showed an unexpected expansion in manufacturing. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong and South Korea are notably higher. Shanghai, Singapore, and Indonesia are up marginally, while Malaysia and Taiwan are weak.
Nikkei 225 soared 10.11 points or 0.07% to 15,359.53, Hang Seng increased by 68.33 points or 0.29% to 23,262.39, KOSPI Index gained 9.15 points or 0.46% to 1,977.22, Straits Times improved 3.08 points or 0.09% to 3,261.88, Jakarta Composite 1.17 points or 0.02% to 4,848.87 and Shanghai Composite was up by 0.68 points or 0.03% to 2,027.35.
On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI declined 2.79 points or 0.15% to 1,882.93 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 23.45 points or 0.25% to 9,250.34.