Asian markets are exhibiting flat-to-positive trend in the early deals on Wednesday as investors tracked the lackluster cues overnight from Wall Street and digested a raft of regional economic data. Investors are also cautious ahead of the US Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy decision due later in the day. While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, investors are likely to keep a close eye on the accompanying statement. The Japanese market is edging higher even as a stronger yen weighed on exporters' shares. Among the other Asian markets, Indonesia, South Korea, and Singapore are higher. Bucking the trend, Hong Kong is lower and the markets in China, Taiwan, and Malaysia remains closed for holidays.
Nikkei 225 added 88.86 points or 0.47% to 19,130.20, KOSPI Index surged 10.46 points or 0.51% to 2,078.03, Jakarta Composite rose 30.94 points or 0.58% to 5,325.05, and Straits Times was up by 4.07 points or 0.13% to 3,050.87.
On the flip side, Hang Seng was down by 165.55 points or 0.71% to 23,195.23.