Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Tuesday, after data showed that Chinese gross domestic product for the fourth quarter beat expectations. Speculation that the European Central Bank will launch a government bond-buying program at its next policy meeting on Thursday also lifted investor sentiment. Further, the Japanese market is higher amid optimism that the European Central Bank will announce a quantitative easing program, while a weaker yen boosted some exporters. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Shanghai is up almost 2 percent after the release of better-than-expected Chinese GDP data. South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Indonesia are up with modest gains. Malaysia is trading slightly lower.
Nikkei 225 surged 251.51 points or 1.48% to 17,265.80, Hang Seng jumped by 171.83 points or 0.72% to 23,910.32, KOSPI Index rose 13.51 points or 0.69% to 1,915.83, Taiwan Weighted increased 69.54 points or 0.76% to 9,243.60, Straits Times improved 22.73 points or 0.69% to 3,330.43 and Shanghai Composite was up by 56.37 points or 1.81% to 3,172.72.
On the flip side, Jakarta Composite declined 24.57 points or 0.48% to 5,127.52 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 3.51 points or 0.20% to 1,749.80.