Asian equity indices are exhibiting mixed trade in early deals on Tuesday due to the mixed lead overnight from Wall Street. Meanwhile, investors digested tech giant Samsung Electronics’ profit outlook for the fourth quarter and also focused on the ongoing talks between South Korea and North Korea, the first formal talk between the two Koreas in more than two years. Japan's Nikkei stock index trading in green but pared some of its gains after the yen surged. The yen strengthened after Japan's central bank trimmed its purchases of Japanese government bonds (JGBs). Among the other Asian markets, Shanghai, Singapore, and Hong Kong are also modestly higher. Bucking the trend, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, and Taiwan are edging lower.
Nikkei 225 gained 146.45 points or 0.62% to 23,860.98, Hang Seng added 114.79 points or 0.37% to 31,014.32, Shanghai Composite spurt 2.76 points or 0.08% to 3,412.24, and Straits Times was up by 17.72 points or 0.50% to 3,529.90.
On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted dropped 21.55 points or 0.2% to 10,894.20, Jakarta Composite dipped 11.16 points or 0.17% to 6,374.24, KOSPI Index slipped 3.47 points or 0.14% to 2,509.81, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 2.71 points or 0.15% to 1,829.44.