Asian markets are exhibiting mixed trend in the early deals on Wednesday, amid concerns about global economic growth, after U.S. stocks closed lower overnight on the back of weak economic data and disappointing corporate earnings. Moreover, investors are also treading cautiously ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later in the day. The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, although traders are likely to pay close attention to any changes to the accompanying statement. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Shanghai is down more than 1 percent, while Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan are modestly lower. Meanwhile, Hong Kong , South Korea and Singapore are marginally higher.
Nikkei 225 spurted by 39.50 points or 0.22% to 17,807.80, KOSPI Index gained 1.95 points or 0.10% to 1,954.35, Hang Seng rose 81.74 points or 0.33% to 24,889.02 and Straits Times was up by 0.32 points or 0.01% to 3,412.52.
On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI dipped 5.13 points or 0.28% to 1,798.04, Jakarta Composite contracted 1.57 points or 0.03% to 5,275.58, Shanghai Composite declined 28.00 points or 0.83% to 3,324.96 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 15.94 points or 0.17% to 9,504.98.