Asian markets are exhibiting mixed trend in the early deals on Monday after opinion polls showed a shrinking lead for British Prime Minister Theresa May in upcoming elections and North Korea test-fired another short-range ballistic missile early Monday. Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei index trade higher as the dollar edged higher versus the yen on the back of upbeat US GDP data. Among the other Asian markets, Malaysia, South Korea, and Hong Kong are modestly higher. Bucking the trend, Indonesia and Singapore is lower. The markets in China and Taiwan are closed due to the annual Dragon Boat Festival.
Nikkei 225 added 24.37 points or 0.12% to 19,711.21, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 0.96 points or 0.05% to 1,773.26, Hang Seng rose 49.97 points or 0.19% to 25,689.24, and KOSPI Index was down by 5.28 points or 0.22% to 2,360.58.
On the flip side, Jakarta Composite declined 4.67 points or 0.08% to 5,712.14, and Straits Times was down by 0.87 points or 0.03% to 3,218.55.