Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading higher in the early deals on Tuesday with economic sentiment upbeat after better-than-expected manufacturing data from China. The Caixin manufacturing PMI for December came in at 51.9, well above the expected 50.7 and a jump from 50.9 in November. At the weekend, data showed the official China PMI from the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing and the National Bureau of Statistics fell to 51.4 in December, slightly weaker than expectations. In addition, crude oil prices rose in Asian trades. Though, geopolitical tension was stoked over by a tweet from US President-elect Donald Trump warning North Korea on testing an intercontinental ballistic missile. Among the other Asian markets, Shanghai, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan are also higher. Bucking the trend, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia are lower. The Japanese market remains closed for the New Year holidays.
Hang Seng rose 108.28 points or 0.49% to 22,108.84, Taiwan Weighted added 9.32 points or 0.1% to 9,262.82, KOSPI Index gained 12.79 points or 0.63% to 2,038.95, and Shanghai Composite was up by 21.93 points or 0.71% to 3,125.56.
On the flip side, Jakarta Composite declined 18.16 points or 0.34% to 5,278.55, Straits Times dropped 8.24 points or 0.29% to 2,872.52, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 9.76 points or 0.59% to 1,631.97.