Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Wednesday, shrugging off the weak cues overnight from Wall Street, as the rebound in crude oil prices and data showing that China's services sector expanded at its fastest pace in eleven months in July boosted investor sentiment. The Japanese market traded higher as construction firms and real estate developers gained on earnings but Toyota Motor and other cyclical shares buckled under concerns about slower global growth. Among the other Asian markets, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan are also higher. Meanwhile, Shanghai and South Korea are in negative territory.
Nikkei 225 gained 127.68 points or 0.62% to 20,648.04, Hang Seng increased by 66.36 points or 0.27% to 24,472.48, Jakarta Composite surged 19.11 points or 0.40% to 4,800.20, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI rose 4.61 points or 0.27% to 1,728.34, Straits Times added 3.11 points or 0.10% to 3,194.15 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 34.63 points or 0.41% to 8,545.49.
On the flip side, KOSPI Index dropped 1.59 points or 0.08% to 2,026.40 and Shanghai Composite was down by 47.89 points or 1.27% to 3,708.66.