Asian equity markets ended mostly higher on Wednesday as the concerns triggered by North Korea's missile firing eased somewhat. North Korea said the launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan was to counter US and South Korean military drills. While US President Donald Trump offered a surprisingly subdued response to the missile launch, the UN Security Council has condemned the missile provocation, but stopped short of imposing new sanctions or other specific measures to rein in Pyongyang. Gains in exporters on the back of a weaker yen and solid retail sales data helped Japanese shares recover all of the previous session's losses. Meanwhile, China stocks ended flat as strong gains in airline operators and resources firms were offset by weakness in banking stocks with investors awaiting first-half results for some of the country’s biggest banks.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 3,363.63 | -1.60 | -0.05 |
Hang Seng | 28,094.61 | 329.60 | 1.19 |
Jakarta Composite | 5,872.51 | -15.71 | -0.27 |
KLSE Composite | 1,773.16 | 12.02 | 0.68 |
Nikkei 225 | 19,506.54 | 143.99 | 0.74 |
Straits Times | 3,265.26 | 15.92 | 0.49 |
KOSPI Composite | 2,372.29 | 7.55 | 0.32 |
Taiwan Weighted | 10,569.40 | 72.83 | 0.69 |