Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Tuesday after Chinese GDP figures were mostly in line with expectations. Though, Weak crude oil prices and worries about the global economy capped some gains. China's economy grew 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, the data showed the slowest growth since 2009. Industrial output in December rose 5.9 percent from a year earlier, compared with forecasts for a 6.0 percent increase. Meanwhile, the Japanese stock market is up with modest gains amid choppy trades in the absence of any lead from Wall Street, which was closed overnight for a public holiday. Investors initially treading cautiously ahead of the release of key economic data by China and on weak oil prices. Among the other Asian markets, Shanghai, Hong Kong Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan are up with modest gains. Bucking the trend, Indonesia is marginally lower.
Nikkei 225 surged 32.33 points or 0.19% to 16,987.90, Hang Seng spurt 149.30 points or 0.78% to 19,386.75, Straits Times added 0.54 points or 0.02% to 2,593.54, Taiwan Weighted increased 23.34 points or 0.30% to 7,834.52, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 2.89 points or 0.18% to 1,625.53, KOSPI Index strengthen 2.86 points or 0.15% to 1,881.31, and Shanghai Composite was up by 47.74 points or 1.64% to 2,961.58.
On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was down by 9.01 points or 0.20% to 4,472.26.