Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading higher on Tuesday, tracking cues from Wall Street where the major averages closed on a positive note overnight. However, renewed geopolitical worries amid fresh conflict in eastern Ukraine and lack of market-moving data limited the upside in most of the markets in the region. On the regional front, the Japanese stock market opened on a firm note following the weakened yen amid signs the US economy is strengthening and as investors weighed earnings. In economic news, Japan had a current account surplus of 963.0 billion yen in September that topped forecasts for a surplus of 537.7 billion yen following the 287.1 billion yen in August. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Indonesia are notably higher. South Korea is up marginally, while Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan are slightly weak.
Nikkei 225 gained 271.73 points or 1.62% to 17,052.26, Hang Seng improved 296.02 points or 1.25% to 23,998.06, KOSPI Index spurted by 4.50 points or 0.23% to 1,962.73, Jakarta Composite soared 69.17 points or 1.39% to 5,034.56 and Shanghai Composite was up by 32.78 points or 1.32% to 2,506.45,
On the flip side, Straits Times contracted by 1.73 points or 0.05% to 3,299.72, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI declined 2.11 points or 0.12% to 1,825.82 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 18.37 points or 0.20% to 9,031.61.