Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Thursday, following a broad rally on Wall Street that nudged the Dow Jones industrial average to a new high after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen told Congress the central bank may slow the pace of its interest rate increases if inflation remains below its target level. Meanwhile, the Japanese market is higher as a stronger yen weighed on exporters' shares. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Shanghai, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan are also higher. Bucking the trend, Malaysia is edging lower.
Nikkei 225 added 10.25 points or 0.05% to 20,108.63, Shanghai Composite gained 13.97 points or 0.44% to 3,211.51, KOSPI Index rose 28.56 points or 1.19% to 2,420.33, Taiwan Weighted increased 58.25 points or 0.56% to 10,478.93, Hang Seng strengthened 279.69 points or 1.07% to 26,323.33, Jakarta Composite spurt 1.1 points or 0.02% to 5,820.23, and Straits Times was up by 20.96 points or 0.65% to 3,229.87.
On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 1.78 points or 0.1% to 1,755.46.