Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Tuesday after positive US earnings reports boosted sentiment. The Japanese market gained supported by growing expectations for strong first-quarter earnings. Investors returned to the market after a three-day weekend in Japan, and were looking to earnings from the likes of Yaskawa Electric Corp and Shin-Etsu Chemical Co this week. Among the other Asian markets, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Malaysia are up with modest gains. Meanwhile, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan are marginally lower. The markets in Indonesia are closed on Tuesday in observance of Eid-ul-Fitr, and will re-open on Wednesday.
Nikkei 225 gained 111.42 points or 0.54% to 20,762.34, Hang Seng increased 99.26 points or 0.39% to 25,504.07, Shanghai Composite rose 10.53 points or 0.26% to 4,002.64 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 2.25 points or 0.13% to 1,726.38.
On the flip side, KOSPI Index declined 2.30 points or 0.11% to 2,071.01, Straits Times contracted 0.67 points or 0.02% to 3,372.81 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 7.01 points or 0.08% to 8,967.99.