Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading in green in the early deals on Wednesday following the record closing highs overnight on Wall Street on the first trading day of 2018 and on higher commodity prices, while the US dollar tumbled to a more than three-month low. Optimism about global economic growth also boosted investors' sentiments. The Japanese market is closed for a holiday. Among the other Asian markets, Shanghai, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan are also higher. Bucking the trend, Indonesia is lower.
Hang Seng added 100.44 points or 0.33% to 30,615.75, Shanghai Composite gained 30.46 points or 0.91% to 3,378.79, Straits Times rose 16.35 points or 0.48% to 3,446.65, Taiwan Weighted spurt 78.04 points or 0.73% to 10,788.77, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 10.36 points or 0.58% to 1,793.06, and KOSPI Index was up by 7.98 points or 0.32% to 2,487.63.
On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was down by 98.94 points or 1.56% to 6,240.30.