Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Tuesday despite Wall Street turning mostly lower on worries the Trump administration might not do as much for businesses as once thought. Meanwhile, the Japanese market is notably higher as a weaker yen lifted exporters' shares. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia are all higher. Bucking the trend, Shanghai and Taiwan are modestly lower. The markets in Indonesia are closed for the Hindu New Year holiday.
Nikkei 225 added 193.95 points or 1.02% to 19,179.54, Hang Seng rose 124.23 points or 0.51% to 24,317.93, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 4.69 points or 0.27% to 1,749.64, KOSPI Index gained 3.96 points or 0.18% to 2,159.62, and Straits Times was up by 23.53 points or 0.75% to 3,150.41.
On the flip side, Shanghai Composite dropped 9.58 points or 0.29% to 3,257.38, and Taiwan Weighted was down by 68.54 points or 0.69% to 9,808.23.