Asian equity markets ended higher on Tuesday, as dovish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen eased concerns about possible capital outflows from the region. In her first comments since Friday's awful US jobs report, Yellen said on Monday that recent signs of a slowdown in job creation bear close watching. While delivering a generally upbeat assessment of US economic conditions, she omitted her recent assessment that interest rate hikes were likely in the coming months. Chinese shares closed marginally higher ahead of the MSCI's decision on June 14. Investors were expecting that MSCI will decide next week to add some China ‘A’ shares to its emerging market index. Japanese shares rebounded from a four-week low as the dollar regained some ground against the yen.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 2,936.04 | 1.95 | 0.07 |
Hang Seng | 21,328.24 | 298.02 | 1.42 |
Jakarta Composite | 4,933.99 | 37.96 | 0.78 |
KLSE Composite | 1,660.62 | 11.63 | 0.71 |
Nikkei 225 | 16,675.45 | 95.42 | 0.58 |
Straits Times | 2,848.09 | 16.81 | 0.59 |
KOSPI Composite | 2,011.63 | 25.79 | 1.30 |
Taiwan Weighted | 8,679.90 | 82.79 | 0.96 |