Asian markets are exhibiting mixed trend in the early deals on Thursday following the mixed cues overnight from Wall Street, as well as European markets and the fall in crude oil prices. Investors also booked profits following the recent strong gains in most markets, and as they look ahead to the Bank of England's monetary policy decision later in the day. The Bank of England will meet for its first post-Brexit policy decision today and markets are pricing in an interest rate cut. Meanwhile, Japanese shares gained for a fourth day as investors waited for details of the government’s stimulus plans. Among the other Asian markets, Taiwan, South Korea, and Hong Kong are modestly higher. Bucking the trend, Shanghai, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia are in negative territory.
Nikkei 225 surged 123.87 points or 0.76% to 16,355.30, Hang Seng added 9.99 points or 0.05% to 21,332.36, KOSPI Index gained 0.33 points or 0.02% to 2,005.88, and Taiwan Weighted was up by 6.75 points or 0.08% to 8,864.50.
On the flip side, Jakarta Composite declined 23.09 points or 0.45% to 5,110.84, Straits Times dropped 3.65 points or 0.13% to 2,907.00, Shanghai Composite dipped 12.83 points or 0.42% to 3,047.86, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 3.60 points or 0.22% to 1,656.79.