Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Tuesday on optimism Britain will vote to stay in the European Union, but gains slowed as investors awaited an economic report by the head of the US Federal Reserve. Meanwhile, China’s stocks rose for a third day, sending the benchmark index toward its longest stretch of gains in more than two months, as an increase in trading fueled a rally for brokerages before this week’s UK referendum on European Union membership. Among the other Asian markets, Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Taiwan are up with modest gains. Bucking the trend, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia are edging lower.
Nikkei 225 gained 65.92 points or 0.41% to 16,031.22, Hang Seng added 97.32 points or 0.47% to 20,607.52, Taiwan Weighted spurt 34.74 points or 0.40% to 8,660.66, Jakarta Composite rose 14.04 points or 0.29% to 4,877.57, and Shanghai Composite was up by 7.48 points or 0.26% to 2,896.29.
On the flip side, KOSPI Index dropped 3.61 points or 0.18% to 1,977.51, Straits Times declined 2.76 points or 0.10% to 2,798.11, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 0.05 points to 1,634.18.