Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading down in the early deals on Wednesday despite the positive cues overnight from Wall Street amid optimism about the upcoming corporate earnings season. Investors kept an eye on bond yields after the yield on the benchmark ten-year US Treasuries rose to a nearly ten-month closing high. Japanese market is lower as a stronger yen weighed on exporters' shares. The yen strengthened for a second day, with traders fixating on prospects for scaled-back debt purchases from the Bank of Japan. Though, China shares getting a boost from lower than expected inflation readings. Consumer inflation in China rose 1.8% on-year in December, which was a touch lower than the market's expectations, while the producer price index topped predictions to climb 4.9% on-year. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan are lower. Bucking the trend, Indonesia, and Hong Kong are modestly higher.
Nikkei 225 declined 36.3 points or 0.15% to 23,813.69, KOSPI Index dipped 6.91 points or 0.28% to 2,503.32, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI contracted 1.05 points or 0.06% to 1,825.90, Straits Times dropped 3.98 points or 0.11% to 3,520.67, and Taiwan Weighted was down by 73.07 points or 0.67% to 10,841.82.
On the flip side, Jakarta Composite gained 8.57 points or 0.13% to 6,381.72, Hang Seng rose 211.78 points or 0.68% to 31,223.19, and Shanghai Composite was up by 11.94 points or 0.35% to 3,425.84.