Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Wednesday, due to the positive lead overnight from Wall Street and as data showed that China's manufacturing sector unexpectedly expanded in February. Further, Japanese stocks moved back and forth across the unchanged line in early trades, and the market is currently higher with modest gains. Meanwhile, exporters were weighed down by a stronger yen. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, South Korea, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia and Taiwan are in positive territory. Meanwhile, Malaysia is down with modest losses.
Hang Seng gained 106.34 points or 0.43% to 24,856.41, Jakarta Composite increased 18.99 points or 0.35% to 5,436.30, Straits Times added 12.29 points or 0.36% to 3,449.90 , Taiwan Weighted surged 49.18 points or 0.51% to 9,679.40, KOSPI Index strengthen 14.74 points or 0.75% to 1,990.86 and Shanghai Composite was up by 0.09 points to 3,247.00.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 dipped 5.96 points or 0.03% to 18,597.52 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 9.20 points or 0.51% to 1,809.48.