Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading higher in the early deals on Wednesday despite the overnight weak close on Wall Street. However, gains are just modest in most of the markets in the region, as the mood is quite cautious amid renewed geopolitical worries following the US-led airstrikes on Islamic militants in Syria earlier this week and also on the weak economic data from euro zone. However, the Japanese stock market opened notably lower, as mounting geopolitical worries triggered some strong selling at several counters. A stronger yen too contributed to the negative start. In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Japan continued to expand in September, albeit at a slower pace, preliminary survey results from Markit Economics revealed on Wednesday with a PMI score of 51.7. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Indonesia are modestly higher. South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia are up marginally, while Singapore is slightly weak.
Hang Seng increased by 92.12 points or 0.39% to 23,929.19, KOSPI Index spurted by 4.44 points or 0.22% to 2,033.35, Jakarta Composite strengthened by 14.80 points or 0.29% to 5,202.92, Shanghai Composite added 18.28 points or 0.79% to 2,328.00, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI jumped 1.26 points or 0.07% to 1,841.45 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 19.91 points or 0.22% to 9,104.81.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 tumbled by 80.67 points or 0.50% to 16,125.23 and Straits Times was down by 2.29 points or 0.07% to 3,295.80.