Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Wednesday, taking cues from sharp gains in European and US markets, while the dollar firmed as upbeat US home sales supported the view that the economy may be strong enough for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in coming months. The US Commerce Department said that new home sales in April soared 16.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 619,000, the highest monthly gain in nearly 25 years. With the sharp gains, new home sales surged to their highest level since January, 2008, topping the next closest reading by more than 70,000. Besides, the conclusion of talks on Greece's debt which reached agreement in principle also fuelled the uptrend. Bucking the trend, Malaysia is in negative territory.
Nikkei 225 added 282.96 points or 1.72% to 16,781.72, Hang Seng surged 490.57 points or 2.47% to 20,321.00, Straits Times gained 30.17 points or 1.10% to 2,780.40, KOSPI Index jumped 26.03 points or 1.34% to 1,963.71, Taiwan Weighted increased 96.86 points or 1.17% to 8,397.52, Shanghai Composite spurt 7.66 points or 0.27% to 2,829.33, and Jakarta Composite was up by 37.60 points or 0.80% to 4,748.39.
On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 0.19 points or 0.01% to 1,625.65.