Asian markets are exhibiting mixed trend in the early deals on Wednesday, as the weak cues overnight from Wall Street while higher iron ore and crude oil prices boosted resource stocks. Investors are treading cautiously ahead of the Bank of Japan's decision on its benchmark interest rate as well as the release of minutes of the most recent U.S. Federal Reserve meeting later in the day. The minutes could shed some additional light on the outlook for interest rates. The Japanese market hit a 15-year high, supported by solid buying from domestic investors after Japanese retail investors ploughed a sizable amount of cash into new stock mutual funds. Among the other markets in the Asian region, Hong Kong, Japan, Shanghai, and South Korea are also in positive territory. Meanwhile, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan are down with modest losses.
Taiwan Weighted contracted 72.32 points or 0.75% to 9,569.58, Straits Times contracted 8.09 points or 0.23% to 3,457.53, Jakarta Composite declined 26.73 points or 0.48% to 5,496.56 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 6.81 points or 0.37% to 1,849.70.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 increased 168.25 points or 0.86% to 19,808.79, KOSPI Index rose 11.03 points or 0.54% to 2,058.06, Shanghai Composite added 4.61points or 0.12% to 3,965.99 and Hang Seng was up by 602.06 points or 2.38% to 25,877.70.