Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Thursday after an overnight advance on Wall Street fueled by strong corporate earnings. However, gains are muted as investors await interest rate decisions from the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank later in the day. The Bank of Japan is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at -0.1 percent, while also holding the 10-year yield target at flat. The ECB is also widely expected to keep all its three interest rates unchanged for an eleventh consecutive policy session and retain its asset purchases that are set to run until the end of the year. Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei share average rose, buoyed by record highs on Wall Street though capped by caution ahead of the outcome of the Bank of Japan meeting. Among the other Asian markets, Shanghai, South Korea, Indonesia and Hong Kong are also up with modest gains. Bucking the trend, Singapore, Taiwan and Malaysia are lower.
Nikkei 225 added 119.34 points or 0.6% to 20,140.20, Hang Seng gained 80.76 points or 0.3% to 26,752.92, Jakarta Composite increased 16.12 points or 0.28% to 5,822.81, Shanghai Composite spurt 5.61 points or 0.17% to 3,236.58, and KOSPI Index was up by 4.92 points or 0.2% to 2,434.86.
On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI declined 2 points or 0.11% to 1,755.27, Straits Times dropped 8.37 points or 0.25% to 3,316.70, and Taiwan Weighted was down by 9.32 points or 0.09% to 10,496.78.