Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Wednesday, led by gains in Japan where investors were buoyed by expectations for more economic stimulus. Though, a weak outlook for commodities and persistent concerns about China's economy discouraged most buyers. The Japanese market is up with strong gains, staging a recovery from the eight-month low touched in the previous session, as investors went bargain hunting and shrugged off the release of weaker than expected local economic data. In addition, a weaker yen boosted export-oriented stocks. Among the other Asian markets, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Malaysia, South Korea, Indonesia and Taiwan are up with modest gains. Bucking the trend, Singapore is in negative territory.
Nikkei 225 surged 428.29 points or 2.53% to 017,359.13, Hang Seng strengthened 291.84 points or 1.42% to 20,848.44, KOSPI Index added 8.38 points or 0.43% to 1,951.23, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 9.00 points or 0.56% to 1,612.32, Shanghai Composite jumped 21.23 points or 0.70% to 3,059.36, Taiwan Weighted increased 24.29 points or 0.30% to 8,156.64 and Jakarta Composite was up by 18.82 points or 0.45% to 4,197.23.
On the flip side, Straits Times was down by 8.85 points or 0.32% to 2,779.09.