Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Tuesday, taking a cue from Wall Street after Congress and President Trump managed to reach an agreement to fund the government for three more weeks. Meanwhile, the Japanese market is rising, tracking a weaker yen and the positive cues overnight from Wall Street. Hong Kong stocks climbed to an all-time peak, underpinned by a combination of gains in financial and IT firms as well as record highs on Wall Street after US senators struck a deal to end a three-day government shutdown. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Singapore, Shanghai, and Indonesia are also higher. Bucking the trend, Malaysia and Taiwan are modestly lower.
Nikkei 225 rose 290.75 points or 1.22% to 24,107.08, Hang Seng jumped 382.47 points or 1.18% to 32,775.88, Jakarta Composite gained 69.82 points or 1.07% to 6,570.35, KOSPI Index added 25.27 points or 1.01% to 2,527.38, Shanghai Composite increased 22.28 points or 0.64% to 3,523.64, and Straits Times was up by 15.37 points or 0.43% to 3,584.80.
On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted declined 1.67 points or 0.01% to 11,229.79, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 0.84 points or 0.05% to 1,832.31.
