Asian equity markets ended mostly in green on Wednesday on an upbeat note as American firms posted strong quarterly earnings and tensions eased on the Korean Peninsula. US President Donald Trump said the United States is engaged in direct talks at ‘extremely high levels’ with North Korea to try to set up a summit in the next two months. Chinese shares ended higher after the People's Bank of China lowered the reserve requirement ratio for most commercial banks in a bid to free up funds for lending and improve liquidity. In another development, China said it would allow full foreign ownership of automakers in five years, ending restrictions that helped to fuel its dispute with Washington. Japanese shares rallied as the yen weakened on hopes for improved relations between the US and North Korea. Investors also digested trade data and kept an eye on the US-Japan summit talks. Japan posted a merchandise trade surplus of 797.3 billion yen in March up 32.1 percent on year. That exceeded expectations for 499.2 billion yen and was up sharply from 3.4 billion yen in February.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 3,091.40 | 24.60 | 0.80 |
Hang Seng | 30,284.25 | 221.50 | 0.74 |
Jakarta Composite | 6,320.01 | 34.24 | 0.54 |
KLSE Composite | 1,879.32 | -1.17 | -0.06 |
Nikkei 225 | 22,158.20 | 310.61 | 1.42 |
Straits Times | 3,557.82 | 59.62 | 1.70 |
KOSPI Composite | 2,479.98 | 26.21 | 1.07 |
Taiwan Weighted | 10,847.89 | 37.44 | 0.35 |
