Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Thursday following the positive cues overnight from Wall Street after the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates as expected and also maintained its interest rate forecast for the next few years, predicting only two more rate hikes this year. In addition, the weak US dollar lifted commodity prices and boosted resources stocks. The Japanese market too edged higher amid the positive cues from Wall Street, though the yen strengthened against the weaker US dollar and investors are cautious ahead of the Bank of Japan's monetary policy decision later in the day capped some gains.
Nikkei 225 gained 19.70 points or 0.10% to 19,597.08, Hang Seng surged 311.21 points or 1.31% to 24,104.06, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI strengthen 15.27 points or 0.89% to 1,732.63, KOSPI Index added 10.92 points or 0.51% to 2,143.92, Shanghai Composite increased 21.32 points or 0.66% to 3,263.08, Taiwan Weighted rose 86.73 points or 0.89% to 9,827.04, Jakarta Composite spurt 57.01 points or 1.05% to 5,489.39 and Straits Times was up by 23.04 points or 0.73% to 3,160.47.