Asian markets are exhibiting mixed trend in the early deals on Wednesday, as traders opted to remain on sidelines ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's Friday speech at Jackson Hole. Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei share average rose with a pause in the strong-yen trend lifting cyclical stocks, while hopes that the Bank of Japan would buy more exchange traded funds continued to support sentiment. Among the other Asian markets, Shanghai, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Indonesia are in negative territory. Bucking the trend, Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan are also higher.
Nikkei 225 jumped 95.30 points or 0.58% to 16,592.66, Straits Times added 16.78 points or 0.59% to 2,867.21, Taiwan Weighted increased 0.89 points or 0.01% to 9,031.82, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 0.64 points or 0.04% to 1,683.71.
On the flip side, Hang Seng declined 150.55 points or 0.65% to 22,848.38, Shanghai Composite decreased 0.83 points or 0.03% to 3,088.88, KOSPI Index dipped 5.28 points or 0.26% to 2,044.65, and Jakarta Composite was down by 15.29 points or 0.28% to 5,401.85.