Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Tuesday following the mostly positive cues overnight from Wall Street. Investors are awaiting the start of the US corporate earnings season and Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's semi-annual testimony before Congress later in the week. The testimony will be closely scrutinized for clues about when the Fed will again raise interest rates. Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei share average edged up as a weaker yen supported many export-oriented stocks, while tech shares attracted buyers on the back of the strong Nasdaq performance overnight. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan are higher. Bucking the trend, Shanghai, Singapore, and Indonesia are lower.
Nikkei 225 gained 92.9 points or 0.46% to 20,173.88, KOSPI Index added 7.05 points or 0.3% to 2,389.15, Taiwan Weighted increased 95.42 points or 0.93% to 10,385.33, Hang Seng surged 286.29 points or 1.12% to 25,786.35, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 0.09 points or 0.01% to 1,757.22.
On the flip side, Shanghai Composite dropped 5.67 points or 0.18% to 3,206.96, Jakarta Composite decreased 2.95 points or 0.05% to 5,768.56, and Straits Times was down by 15.45 points or 0.48% to 3,230.90.