Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Monday, despite worries of disruptions from the ‘WannaCry’ ransomware cyberattack over the weekend. Yet another missile launch by North Korea also appeared to have little impact, while upbeat talk on trade and infrastructure investment at a top-level conference in China brightened sentiment. Japanese stocks edged down, pressured by a stronger yen, a widespread cyber attack, and North Korea's missile test over the weekend. Among the other Asian markets, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea, and Taiwan are in positive territory. Bucking the trend, Indonesia, and Malaysia are lower.
Hang Seng added 145.16 points or 0.58% to 25,301.50, Shanghai Composite gained 8.77 points or 0.28% to 3,092.28, KOSPI Index increased 2.2 points or 0.1% to 2,288.22, Taiwan Weighted gained 16.26 points or 0.16% to 10,003.08, and Straits Times was up by 13.27 points or 0.41% to 3,268.56.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 declined 24.19 points or 0.12% to 19,859.71, Jakarta Composite dropped 11.82 points or 0.21% to 5,663.39, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 2.16 points or 0.12% to 1,773.71.