Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Wednesday, however, investors remained cautious over the latest global geopolitical developments in the wake of Paris terror attacks. Meanwhile, Japanese stocks edged up to their highest in three months as investors shook-off Wall Street's decline and bought into the dollar's growing strength against the yen. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Indonesia are up with modest gains. Bucking the trend, Singapore, Taiwan and Malaysia are marginally lower.
Nikkei 225 surged 53.04 points or 0.27% to 19,683.67, Hang Seng strengthen 21.68 points or 0.10% to 22,285.93, Shanghai Composite increased 6.30 points or 0.17% to 3,611.10, KOSPI Index added 1.68 points or 0.09% to 1,965.26, and Jakarta Composite was up by 11.56 points or 0.26% to 4,512.51.
On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI dropped 1.14 points or 0.07% to 1,660.39, Taiwan Weighted declined 39.42 points or 0.47% to 8,380.00, and Straits Times was down by 24.46 points or 0.84% to 2,892.32.