Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading higher in the morning deals on Wednesday, tracking positive cues overnight from the US and Europe. On the regional front, the Japanese stock market opened higher, buoyed by a strong close on Wall Street overnight on the back of upbeat housing data, while a stronger greenback too contributed to the positive start. Japan saw a merchandise trade deficit of 963.99 billion yen in July. That missed forecasts for a deficit of 713.9 billion yen following the 823.2 billion yen shortfall in June. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan are up marginally, while South Korea and Shanghai are weak.
Nikkei 225 soared 6.35 points or 0.04% to 15,456.14, Hang Seng increased by 167.49 points or 0.67% to 25,122.95, Straits Times gained 13.82 points or 0.42% to 3,330.25, Jakarta Composite surged by 18.64 points or 0.36% to 5,183.81, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI added 10.41 points or 0.56% to 1,872.16 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 24.37 points or 0.26% to 9,268.15.
On the flip side, KOSPI Index dropped 4.05 points or 0.20% to 2,067.09 and Shanghai Composite was down by 2.37 points or 0.11% to 2,242.96.