Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading higher in the early deals on Wednesday, following the financial and technology shares. The Japanese market rose to 15-year highs as foreign investors snatched up financials and other large cap shares, believing them to be undervalued. Among the other markets in the Asian region, Shanghai, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan are up with modest gains. Meanwhile, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia are lower.
Nikkei 225 rose 181.23 points or 0.91 % to 20,090.32, Taiwan jumped 70.96 points or 0.74% to 9,604.94, KOSPI Index strengthen 12.00 points or 0.56% to 2,156.79, Hang Seng added by 78.48 points or 0.28 to 27,928.97 and Shanghai Composite was up by 76.28 points or 1.78% to 4,369.90.
On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI declined 4.87 points or 0.26% to 1,857.93, Jakarta Composite contracted 7.29 points or 0.13 % to 5,453.28 and Straits Times was down by 5.29 points or 0.15 % to 3,503.32.