Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading higher in the early deals on Thursday after US stocks closed higher overnight in a choppy session influenced by President-elect Donald Trump's first press conference. The US dollar weakened as Trump's highly-anticipated speech failed to provide clarity on his proposed economic policies. Ahead of the news conference, the World Bank said that Trump's proposed tax cuts and spending plans could boost US and global growth, but noted that uncertainty about his trade policies adds to risks. Though, Japan's Nikkei share average dropped to a near two-week low after President-elect Donald Trump failed to provide clarity on future fiscal policies in a highly-awaited press briefing. Additionally, a stronger yen weighed on exporters' shares. Among the other Asian markets, Shanghai, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia and Malaysia are all higher. Bucking the trend, Hong Kong is modestly lower.
Shanghai Composite added 6.31 points or 0.20% to 3,143.06, Taiwan Weighted increased 57.21 points or 0.61% to 9,402.95, Jakarta Composite gained 13.77 points or 0.26% to 5,315.00, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI jumped 3.52 points or 0.21% to 1,678.73, Straits Times rose 6.62 points or 0.22% to 3,007.56, and KOSPI Index was up by 0.82 points or 0.04% to 2,075.99.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 dipped 263.13 points or 1.36% to 19,101.54, and Hang Seng was down by 62.95 points or 0.27% to 22,872.40.