Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Wednesday, as a rebound in US home construction data and a surprise announcement by the European Central Bank to frontload bond buying sent the greenback higher, giving a boost to Asian exporters. The Japanese market gained on hopes of an economic recovery after the country's gross domestic product for the first quarter beat market expectations. Among other markets in the Asian region, Shanghai, Malaysia, South Korea and Indonesia are trading higher. Meanwhile, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan are in negative territory.
Nikkei 225 increased 190.47 points or 0.95% to 20,216.85, KOSPI Index spurt 14.71 points or 0.69% to 2,135.56, Shanghai Composite soared 58.54 points or 1.33% to 4,476.09, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 0.93 points or 0.05% to 1,810.65 and Jakarta Composite was up by 29.56 points or 0.56% to 5,298.93.
On the flip side, Hang Seng declined 55.17points or 0.20% to 27,638.37, Straits Times dropped 10.72 points or 0.31% to 3,443.32 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 25.49 points or 0.26% to 9,691.28.