Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading higher on Wednesday following the positive cues overnight from Wall Street and European markets. A pause in both the sell-off in global bonds and sharp rise in the dollar following Donald Trump's election victory, too supported market sentiment. Crude oil prices shot up overnight, as members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries hammered out the details of a proposed output cut, which helped shares of producers across Asia. Meanwhile, better-than-expected economic data from the US has boosted expectations for a December interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve. Japanese shares rose to a 9-1/2-month high as a weaker yen underpinned exporters and higher Japanese yields stoked bank shares. Among the other Asian markets, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan are trading higher. While, the Shanghai and Malaysia markets are in negative territory.
Nikkei 225 rose 198.27 points or 1.12% to 17,866.42, Hang Seng added 130.29 points or 0.58% to 22,454.20, Jakarta Composite surged 101.90 points or 2.01% to 5,180.40, Taiwan Weighted increased 57.56 points or 0.64% to 8,988.59, KOSPI Index jumped 14.69 points or 0.75% to 1,982.22, and Straits Times was up by 15.38 points or 0.55% to 2,812.93.
On the flip side, Shanghai Composite dropped 6.16 points or 0.19% to 3,200.82, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 2.03 points or 0.12% to 1,628.53.