Asian markets are exhibiting mixed trend in the early deals on Thursday as investors tried to gauge the impact from the sweeping tax reform plan unveiled by President Donald Trump while geopolitical tensions surrounding North Korea kept risk sentiments in check. Meanwhile, the Japanese market is advancing, with investors’ sentiments bolstered by a slightly weaker yen and the positive lead overnight from Wall Street. Among the other Asian markets, Indonesia, Shanghai, South Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong are lower with modest losses. Bucking the trend, Taiwan and Singapore are higher.
Hang Seng dropped 86.21 points or 0.31% to 27,556.22, Shanghai Composite declined 3.09 points or 0.09% to 3,342.19, Jakarta Composite slipped 2.71 points or 0.05% to 5,860.31, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 1.57 points or 0.09% to 1,762.67, and KOSPI Index was down by 0.86 points or 0.04% to 2,371.71.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 gained 104.65 points or 0.52% to 20,371.70, Straits Times added 1.32 points or 0.04% to 3,237.47, and Taiwan Weighted was up by 8.62 points or 0.08% to 10,335.30.