Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Monday, as markets digested the Caixin PMI data out of China and the Bank of Japan's quarterly Tankan survey. The Caixin manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index for June, released Monday, came in at 50.4 versus 49.6 in May. A level above 50 indicates economic expansion. This followed stronger-than-expected official PMI data last week. Meanwhile, the Japanese market is modestly higher following the lackluster cues from Wall Street on Friday and as investors digested the Bank of Japan's better-than-expected quarterly Tankan survey results. Among the other Asian markets, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia and Singapore are marginally higher. Bucking the trend, Taiwan, South Korea and Malaysia are lower.
Nikkei 225 added 40.55 points or 0.2% to 20,073.98, Jakarta Composite rose 34.49 points or 0.59% to 5,864.20, Hang Seng increased 20.21 points or 0.08% to 25,784.79, Shanghai Composite gained 1.29 points or 0.04% to 3,193.72, and Straits Times was up by 2.89 points or 0.09% to 3,229.37.
On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted declined 16.56 points or 0.16% to 10,378.51, KOSPI Index decreased 4.66 points or 0.19% to 2,387.13, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 0.56 points or 0.03% to 1,763.11.