Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Wednesday as investors digested the dramatic dismissal of FBI Director James Comey in the US and followed the inauguration of liberal candidate Moon Jae-in after his win in the South Korean presidential election. Meanwhile, the Japanese market is modestly higher, following the mixed cues from Wall Street while a weaker yen lifted exporters' shares. Among the other Asian markets, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taiwan are also higher. Bucking the trend, South Korea, and Indonesia are in negative territory. The markets in Malaysia and Singapore are closed in observance of Vesak Day.
Nikkei 225 gained 32.39 points or 0.16% to 19,875.39, Hang Seng increased 199.24 points or 0.8% to 25,088.27, Shanghai Composite added 8.11 points or 0.26% to 3,088.63, and Taiwan Weighted was up by 25.65 points or 0.26% to 9,941.13.
On the flip side, KOSPI Index declined 22.52 points or 0.98% to 2,270.24, and Jakarta Composite was down by 3.11 points or 0.05% to 5,693.95.