Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Thursday, despite as the selloff in global bonds accelerated, with Japanese yields rising to their highest level since March. The Japanese market declined as another rise in bond yields around the world kept many investors on edge, but Konica Minolta jumped after it joined a growing list of companies announcing higher payouts for shareholders. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Malaysia are up with marginal gains. Meanwhile, Singapore, Taiwan and Japan are in negative territory. The Indonesian market is closed on Thursday on account of observance of Ascension Day.
Hang Seng surged 81.41 points or 0.30% to 27,330.69, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI added 3.21 points or 0.18% to 1,806.23, KOSPI Index jumped 3.12 points or 0.15% to 2,117.28 and Shanghai Composite was up by 11.57 points or 0.26% to 4,387.33
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 declined 179.81 points or 0.91% to 19,584.91, Taiwan Weighted decreased 111.30 points or 1.14% to 9,612.81 and Straits Times was down by 3.58 points or 0.10% to 3,449.59