Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading higher in the early deals on Wednesday on the back of a slightly better than expected GDP report from China. On the regional front, the Japanese stock market swung between gains and losses in the morning session, with investors treading cautiously, reacting to earnings reports and the latest batch of economic data from the US and China. Meanwhile, Chinese Shanghai Composite improved after economic growth topped estimates and June home sales surged, offsetting concern that new share sales will divert funds from existing equities. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai are up marginally and Indonesia is notably higher. Taiwan is notably lower, while South Korea and Malaysia are slightly weak.
Nikkei 225 soared 1.15 points or 0.01% to 15,396.31, Hang Seng increased by 19.83 points or 0.08% to 23,479.79, Straits Times spurted by 7.76 points or 0.24% to 3,299.18, Jakarta Composite gained 44.48 points or 0.88% to 5,115.30 and Shanghai Composite was up by 1.55 points or 0.07% to 2,071.90.
On the flip side, KOSPI Index dropped 2.76 points or 0.14% to 2,009.96, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI slipped by 1.08 points or 0.06% to 1,883.79 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 84.10 points or 0.88% to 9,485.07.