Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading higher on Tuesday on hopes that Hillary Clinton will beat Donald Trump to win today's presidential election in the United States but traders are cautious with many opinion polls saying the race is too close to call. The news that Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has been cleared for a second time by the Federal Bureau of Investigation is seen as boosting her chances of emerging victorious on Election Day, which could be positive for stocks. Japanese shares trading lower, weighed down by the yen's rise following Monday's losses. Among the other Asian markets, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan are trading higher.
Hang Seng added 85.86 points or 0.38% to 22,887.26, Jakarta Composite surged 53.95 points or 1% to 5,440.15, KOSPI Index jumped 3.01 points or 0.15% to 2,000.59, Taiwan Weighted increased 22.29 points or 0.24% to 9,212.13, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI rose 6.48 points or 0.39% to 1,657.07, Straits Times increased 9.58 points or 0.34% to 2,810.53 and Shanghai Composite was up by 19.19 points or 0.61% to 3,152.52.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 down by 4.02 points or 0.02% to 17,173.19.