Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Wednesday, tracking the positive cues overnight from Wall Street and as investors look ahead to the announcement from the Bank of Japan as it wraps up its two-day monetary policy meeting on Wednesday. Further, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell as investors pocketed gains from the sharp rises in the past two sessions, but expectations that the European Central Bank will unveil stimulus measures this week limited losses. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Shanghai and Hong Kong are up 1 percent each. Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan are up with modest gains. South Korea is marginally lower.
Hang Seng added by 311.11 points or 1.30% to 24,262.27, Jakarta Composite rose 10.44 points or 0.20% to 5,176.53, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI jumped by 5.97 points or 0.34% to 1,756.08. Taiwan Weighted surged 45.38 points or 0.50% to 9,300.37, Straits Times improved 7.35 points or 0.22% to 3,341.37 and Shanghai Composite was up by 70.82 points or 2.23% to 3,243.87.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 contracted 123.14 points or 0.71% to 17,243.16 and KOSPI Index was down by 3.19 points or 0.17% to 1,915.12,