The Asian indices ended mostly in green on Wednesday, as pessimism about the Greek debt saga receded somewhat. Shanghai Stock Exchange and Seoul Composite were closed today on account of ‘Lunar New Year’ holiday, while Taiwan Stock Exchange was closed on account of ‘Lunar New Year’s Eve’ holiday. The Bank of Japan decided by an 8 to 1 vote to leave the bank’s policy target unchanged and upgraded its assessment of exports and factory output, while warning consumption has been hit by a April 2014 sales tax hike. On the monetary policy target, the BoJ repeated it will conduct money market operations so that the monetary base will increase at an annual pace of about 80 trillion yen and that its financial asset purchases will also proceed after they expanded on October 31.
Annual inflation in Malaysia fell to a more than five-year low of 1.0 percent in January as oil prices skidded, but economists do not expect the central bank to follow others and respond by cutting interest rates. Central banks around the world have been taking advantage of easing inflation to cut rates to shore up flagging growth, but Malaysia’s economy has defied sliding oil and commodity prices, growing much faster than expected in the fourth quarter.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | - | - | - |
Hang Seng | 24,832.08 | 47.20 | 0.19 |
Jakarta Composite | 5,390.45 | 52.95 | 0.99 |
KLSE Composite | 1,807.87 | -2.22 | -0.12 |
Nikkei 225 | 18,199.17 | 212.08 | 1.18 |
Straits Times | 3,435.66 | 19.75 | 0.58 |
KOSPI Composite | - | - | - |
Taiwan Weighted | - | - | - |