All the Asian equity indices are trading higher in the early deals on Wednesday, tracking cues from Wall Street where stocks posted stronger gains overnight on the back of a report showing notable improvement in US consumer confidence in October. Some upbeat corporate results and optimism ahead of the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy, due later in the day, also contributed to the upmove in the region. The Japanese stock market surged higher, lifted by fairly strong industrial output data and some upbeat corporate earnings reports. A weaker yen too contributed to the upmove in the market. On the economic front, industrial production in Japan was up a seasonally adjusted 2.7 percent in September, which beat forecasts for an increase of 2.2 percent following the 1.9 percent contraction in August. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea and Taiwan are all notably higher.
Nikkei 225 spurted by 229.19 points or 1.50% to 15,559.10, Hang Seng gained 318.86 points or 1.36% to 23,839.22, KOSPI Index inched up 28.80 points or 1.50% to 1,954.48, Straits Times added 11.03 points or 0.34% to 3,222.68, Jakarta Composite surged by 44.23 points or 0.88% to 5,045.53, Shanghai Composite jumped 32.25 points or 1.38% to 2,370.12, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI climbed 11.97 points or 0.66% to 1,837.65 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 108.03 points or 1.23% to 8,881.58.