Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Wednesday, following the overnight gains on Wall Street amid upbeat corporate earnings results and on optimism that US President Donald Trump is expected to unveil a tax plan later in the day. Japan's Nikkei share average rose to near one-month highs, buoyed by a weaker yen and record high for the Nasdaq Composite. Meanwhile, Hong Kong stocks is higher, joining a global equity rally on Tuesday night, driven by the optimism over centrist Emmanuel Macron winning the first round of the French presidential election.
Nikkei 225 gained 138.81 points or 0.73% to 19,218.14, Hang Seng increased 142.91 points or 0.58% to 24,598.85, Straits Times added 9.79 points or 0.31% to 3,173.72, Shanghai Composite jumped 11.14 points or 0.36% to 3,145.71, Jakarta Composite strengthen 9.38 points or 0.17% to 5,690.18, KOSPI Index spurt 8.99 points or 0.41% to 2,205.84, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI rose 2.9 points or 0.16% to 1,768.70, and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.99 points or 0.01% to 9,842.70.