Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading mostly in green in the early deals on Wednesday following the overnight gains on Wall Street as upbeat corporate earnings results and optimism about global economic growth boosted investors’ sentiments. Investors are awaiting the announcement by Chinese President Xi Jinping later in the day of new members of the Politburo Standing Committee, the country's supreme political body. The Japanese market is rising for the seventeenth straight day, following the positive lead overnight from Wall Street and on a weaker yen. Among the other Asian markets, Shanghai, Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan are also higher. Bucking the trend, Malaysia is trading lower.
Nikkei 225 added 25.35 points or 0.12% to 21,830.52, Hang Seng spurt 205.62 points or 0.73% to 28,360.59, KOSPI Index rose 6.03 points or 0.24% to 2,496.52, Straits Times gained 1.69 points or 0.05% to 3,336.36, Jakarta Composite increased 25.86 points or 0.43% to 5,977.93, Taiwan Weighted surged 5.39 points or 0.05% to 10,749.17, Shanghai Composite was up by 4.04 points or 0.12% to 3,392.29.
On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 0.86 points or 0.05% to 1,735.28.