Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Thursday, after the Fed sounded a note of caution on the world economy and its effect on US growth but left the door open for continued rate hikes. Further, higher crude oil and commodity prices lifted resources stocks. However, the Japanese market edged lower after the negative lead from Wall Street, but expectations that the Bank of Japan will continue to expand stimulus on Friday boosted investor sentiment. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan are all in positive territory. Bucking the trend, Shanghai is marginally lower as investors worry about China’s slowing economy and increasing capital outflows.
Hang Seng added 33.87 points or 0.18% to 19,086.32, Taiwan Weighted strengthen 34.55 points or 0.44% to 7,884.38, KOSPI Index gained 0.67 points or 0.04% to 1,898.54, Jakarta Composite increased 3.39 points or 0.07% to 4,587.02, Straits Times spurt 2.65 points or 0.10% to 2,548.83, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 4.39 points or 0.27% to 1,635.93.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 declined 111.54 points or 0.65% to 17,052.38, and Shanghai Composite was down by 13.01 points or 0.48% to 2,722.55.