Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading higher in the early deals on Thursday, on signals from the Federal Reserve that it is not in a hurry to raise interest rates, encouraging investor risk appetite. Further, Japanese stock market opened on a firm note this morning, lifted by overnight gains on Wall Street and a stronger dollar. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Taiwan are notably higher. Singapore is up with modest gains, while Shanghai and South Korea are trading weak.
Hang Seng gained 301.86 points or 1.34% to 22,887.70, Straits Times jumped 10.23 points or 0.32% to 3,237.46, Nikkei 225 strengthen by 437.76 points or 2.60% to 17,257.49, Jakarta Composite was rose by 54.14 points or 1.08% to 5,089.79 .FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI climbed 21.99 points or 1.31% to 1,703.89 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 57.7 points or 0.65% to 8,885.72.
On the flip side, KOSPI Index decreased by 13.67 points or 0.72% to 1,886.49 and Shanghai Composite was down by 9.91 points or 9.91% to 3,051.11,