Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Friday following gains on Wall Street, but gains were capped by uncertainty over whether the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next week. The Japanese market is trading marginally higher despite investors wary of making bold moves ahead of a decision in the US Federal Meeting and also ahead of the release of key economic data by China over the weekend. Among the other Asian markets, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Taiwan are also higher. Bucking the trend, Shanghai, South Korea and Malaysia are marginally lower. The markets in Singapore are closed on Friday as voters head to polls for a general election.
Nikkei 225 gained 3.60 points or 0.02% to 18,303.22, Hang Seng surged 184.45 points or 0.86% to 21,746.95, Taiwan Weighted strengthen 21.21 points or 0.26% to 8,289.89 and Jakarta Composite was up by 34.71 points or 0.80% to 4,377.97.
On the flip side, Shanghai Composite declined 2.35 points or 0.07% to 3,195.54, KOSPI Index dropped 16.67 points or 0.85% to 1,945.44 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 8.16 points or 0.51% to 1,605.86.