Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Wednesday after US stocks fell for the second day as the head of the International Monetary Fund sounded downbeat on the outlook for the world economy. Meanwhile, the Japanese stocks edged up as the yen retreated from a 17-month high against the US dollar. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Indonesia and Malaysia are up with modest gains. Bucking the trend, Taiwan is lower.
Nikkei 225 added 16.71 points or 0.11% to 15,749.53, Hang Seng increased 70.86 points or 0.35% to 20,247.86, Straits Times strengthen 13.77 points or 0.49% to 2,814.69, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 0.41 points or 0.02% to 1,718.49, KOSPI Index jumped 10.12 points or 0.52% to 1,972.86, Jakarta Composite spurt 13.76 points or 0.28% to 4,871.83, and Shanghai Composite was up by 2.62 points or 0.09% to 3,055.68.
On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted was down by 127.75 points or 1.48% to 8,529.80.