Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up on Tuesday amid expectations of stimulus measures in Japan and South Korea. Besides, speculation that policy makers will move to shore up financial markets after Britain’s vote to exit from the European Union also fuelled the uptrend. On Monday, ratings agency Standard & Poor's cut the UK's credit rating to AA from AAA with a negative outlook. Britain is under pressure to expedite its exit from the EU in order to provide some stability to the financial markets. Meanwhile, the Japanese market rose amid speculation about more stimulus measures by the Japanese government, helping to erase early losses. However, stocks in China and Hong Kong fell as investors braced for the global financial and economic fallout from Britain's vote to leave the European Union. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea Singapore, Indonesia and Taiwan are edging higher. Bucking the trend, Malaysia is modestly lower.
Nikkei 225 gained 53.82 points or 0.35% to 15,363.03, Taiwan Weighted added 22.55 points or 0.27% to 8,481.42, Jakarta Composite rose 25.92 points or 0.54% to 4,861.97, KOSPI Index surged 6.81 points or 0.35% to 1,933.66, and Straits Times was up by 19.06 points or 0.70% to 2,748.91.
On the flip side, Hang Seng dropped 176.37 points or 0.87% to 20,050.93, Shanghai Composite dipped 1.20 points or 0.04% to 2,894.50, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 1.10 points or 0.07% to 1,628.42.