Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading down in the early deals on Thursday despite firm lead overnight from Wall Street and on increased risk appetite after US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's comments on Tuesday eased investors' anxiety about a near-term interest rate hike. Meanwhile, China’s stocks rose amid speculation the world’s second-largest economy is stabilizing. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan are in negative territory. Bucking the trend, Nikkei, and Indonesia are higher.
Hang Seng declined 34.66 points or 0.17% to 20,768.73, Straits Times dipped 32.62 points or 1.14% to 2,840.16, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI slipped 3.54 points or 0.21% to 1,714.28, KOSPI Index decreased 11.09 points or 0.55% to 1,991.05, and Taiwan Weighted was down by 37.69 points or 0.43% to 8,699.35.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 added 75.94 points or 0.45% to 16,954.90, Jakarta Composite surged 2.23 points or 0.05% to 4,818.89, and Shanghai Composite was up by 10.89 points or 0.36% to 3,011.53.