Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Wednesday, ahead of Wednesday's critical Federal Open Market Committee meeting. Further, the Federal Reserve could remove a reference to remaining patient from its minutes, which would provide an indication that the U.S. central bank is ready to raise interest rates at some point this year. The Japan's Nikkei share average was little changed, with investors reluctant to make bets before the Federal Reserve's policy decision later in the day, while Nintendo Co was flooded with buy orders. Among the other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Singapore and Indonesia are also in negative territory. Meanwhile, Shanghai, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia are higher.
Nikkei 225 rose 20.26 points or 0.10% to 19,457.26, Hang Seng added 243.65 points or 1.02% to 24,145.14, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 9.57 points or 0.54% to 1,797.44, KOSPI Index surged 3.08 points or 0.15% to 2,032.99, Shanghai Composite strengthen by 30.14 points or 0.86% to 3,532.99 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 102.37 points or 1.06% to 9,640.76.
On the flip side, Jakarta Composite decline 16.22 points or 0.30% to 5,422.93 and Straits Times was down by 1.47 points or 0.04% to 3,368.48.