Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Wednesday following the positive lead overnight from Wall Street after the Trump administration unveiled its first budget proposal. However, gains are muted as investors look ahead to the release of minutes of the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting later today. Investors also digested news that Moody's Investors Services downgraded China's sovereign credit rating to A1 from Aa3 and changed its outlook to stable from negative. Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei share average rose helped by exporters after the dollar gained against the yen, while financials gained ground thanks to a rise in US Treasury yields. Though, China's main stock index fell after Moody's cut its sovereign credit rating on China. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan are higher. Bucking the trend, Indonesia, and Hong Kong are lower.
Nikkei 225 gained 96.52 points or 0.49% to 19,709.80, Taiwan Weighted rose 39.61 points or 0.4% to 10,047.45, KOSPI Index added 4.1 points or 0.18% to 2,315.84, Straits Times increased 0.91 points or 0.03% to 3,223.60, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 3.17 points or 0.18% to 1,770.34.
On the flip side, Jakarta Composite dipped 54.44 points or 0.95% to 5,676.18, Hang Seng dropped 37.89 points or 0.15% to 25,365.26, and Shanghai Composite was down by 11.01 points or 0.36% to 3,050.94.