Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Tuesday as investors brushed off the start of US earnings season and the yen looked set to weaken for the first time in eight sessions. Chinese shares drifted lower on profit taking after sharp gains in the previous session. Japan's Nikkei share average rose as the dollar gained versus the yen in early morning trade, lifting cyclical stocks such as exporters as well as recently battered banking shares. Among the other Asian markets, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore and South Korea are higher. Bucking the trend, Malaysia, and Taiwan are in negative territory.
Nikkei 225 surged 181.05 points or 1.15% to 15,932.18, Hang Seng increased 40.13 points or 0.20% to 20,480.94, Straits Times added 1.96 points or 0.07% to 2,811.20, KOSPI Index jumped 8.25 points or 0.42% to 1,978.62, and Jakarta Composite was up by 26.44 points or 0.55% to 4,813.41.
On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI declined 0.82 points or 0.05% to 1,714.46, Taiwan Weighted dropped 21.75 points or 0.25% to 8,540.84, and Shanghai Composite was down by 19.75 points or 0.65% to 3,014.20.