Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Wednesday, while the dollar held firm as investors awaited the Federal Reserve's latest take on the US economy and interest rates as almost a welcome diversion to the endless wrangling over Greece. The Japanese market drifted into negative territory after opening higher following the overnight gains on Wall Street. Japan's trade data for May released before the market open, showing that exports missed expectations, weighed on exporters' stocks. Among the other Asian markets, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong are marginally higher. Meanwhile, Shanghai is down with modest losses.
Hang Seng added by 89.45 points or 0.34 % to 26,656.15, Jakarta Composite rose 71.91 points or 1.48 % to 4,944.51, Straits Times increased 37.36 points or 1.13 % to 3,335.45, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI surged 3.80 points or 0.22 % to 1,726.04, KOSPI Index jumped 4.02 points or 0.20 % to 2,032.74 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 12.36 points or 0.13 % to 9,225.14.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 dipped 81.87 points or 0.40 % to 20,176.07 and Shanghai Composite was down by 61.69 points or 1.26 % to 4,825.74.