Asian equities trade higher; largely buck downbeat US economic reports

01 Feb 2012 Evaluate

Majority of equity indices across Asia overlooked lackluster overnight leads and continued to trade on a positive note on Wednesday. Investors in the region shrugged weaker than expected economic reports from the US as they focused on the unexpectedly better than expected Chinese manufacturing reports. However, the gains in most markets remained subdued as uncertainty continued to loom over Euro-region’s unresolved debt trouble. The European Union leaders agreed upon on stricter controls to maintain balanced budgets across the region, but the ongoing wrangling over a Greek debt write-down has left the public debt crisis still unresolved.

The benchmark in China traded with moderate cuts in the session after the official purchasing managers index (PMI) indicated that manufacturing activity expanded for a second consecutive month to 50.5 in January, rising marginally from 50.3 in December. The main index in Japan on the other hand, traded with only moderate gains a day after electronics giant Toshiba and auto major Honda reported disappointing quarterly earnings while the rise in yen too prevented upside chances in export oriented stocks in the session.

Hang Seng rose 1.78 points or 0.01% to 20,388.71, Jakarta Composite gained 7.29 points or 0.18% to 3,948.98, Nikkei 225 advanced 24.28 points or 0.28% to 8,826.79, Seoul Composite ascended 6.02 points or 0.31% to 1,961.81 and Taiwan Weighted added 19.26 points or 0.26% to 7,536.34.

On the flipside, Shanghai Composite eased 8.22 points or 0.36% to 2,284.39 and Straits Times declined 13.90 points or 0.48% to 2,892.79.

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