Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Wednesday as investors scooped up exporter shares after US President-elect Donald Trump expressed concerns over a stronger dollar. The Japanese stock market rose despite the weak cues overnight from US and European markets as well as a stronger yen weighing on investor sentiment. Among the other Asian markets, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Indonesia, and Malaysia are also higher. Bucking the trend, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan are in negative territory.
Nikkei 225 gained 4.38 points or 0.02% to 18,817.91, Hang Seng rose 260.43 points or 1.14% to 23,101.40, Shanghai Composite added 8.93 points or 0.29% to 3,117.71, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 4.06 points or 0.24% to 1,667.09, and Jakarta Composite was up by 20.15 points or 0.38% to 5,287.08.
On the flip side, Straits Times dropped 12.73 points or 0.42% to 3,000.04, KOSPI Index dipped 1.17 points or 0.06% to 2,070.70, and Taiwan Weighted was down by 11.37 points or 0.12% to 9,343.16.