Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Wednesday, with investors, looking for fresh triggers, largely refraining from making significant moves. Crude oil's fall to a fresh five-week low on Tuesday and a weak close in the U.S. and European markets overnight amid concerns about the political situation in Greece are weighing on sentiment. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan are flat. Shanghai up sharply and Hong Kong is marginally higher. Markets in Indonesia, Japan and South Korea are closed today.
Hang Seng gained 103.94 points or 0.44% to 23,605.04, Straits Times improved by 2.55 points or 0.08% to 3,368.66, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI rose by 1.85 points or 0.10% to 1,768.68 and Shanghai Composite was up by 21.58 points or 0.68% to 3,187.39.
On the flip side Taiwan Weighted was down by 4.58 points or 0.05% to 9,263.85.