Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Wednesday, with buying supported by another Wall Street rally as a positive reading on US growth and consumer spending renewed confidence in the world's top economy. US consumer spending picked up in November as households loosened their purse strings at the start of the holiday shopping season, boosting prospects for fourth quarter economic growth. Meanwhile, the Shanghai Composite index rose after the government took measures to prop up equities and cut interest rates six times within a year. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan are all in positive territory. Bucking the trend, Indonesia is in negative territory and markets in Japan are closed for a national holiday to celebrate the emperor’s birthday.
Hang Seng added 233.99 points or 1.07% to 22,064.01, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI surged 11.16 points or 0.68% to 1,654.42, KOSPI Index spurt 9.20 points or 0.46% to 2,001.76, Shanghai Composite strengthen 6.02 points or 0.16% to 3,657.79, Taiwan Weighted increased 42.07 points or 0.51% to 8,334.81, and Straits Times was up by 13.29 points or 0.47% to 2,866.26.
On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was down by 10.85 points or 0.24% to 4,506.72.