Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Tuesday, as cues from greater stability in crude oil prices and the Russian ruble, along with the Federal Reserve’s indication it will take a slow approach to raising interest rates. Activity is mostly stock-specific in most of the markets in the region. Volatile commodity prices appear to be prompting investors to refrain from making significant moves. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Indonesia, Malaysia and Hong Kong are up with modest gains. Singapore, Taiwan are up marginally, while South Korea and Shanghai are weak. The Japanese market is closed for a holiday for Emperor's Birthday.
Hang Seng added 35.90 points or 0.15% to 23,444.47, Straits Times jumped by 3.40 points or 0.10% to 3,334.36, Jakarta Composite gained 20.57 points or 0.40% to 5,146.34 , FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI spurted by 6.46 points or 0.37% to 1,750.51,and Taiwan Weighted was up by 75.07 points or 0.83% to 9,074.59.
On the flip side, Shanghai Composite declined by 22.97 points or 0.73% to 3,104.48 and KOSPI Index was down by 5.90 points or 0.30% to 1,937.22,