Most of the Asian markets are trading higher in early deals on Thursday, following the mostly positive cues from Wall Street overnight amid upbeat corporate earnings results and as US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reinforced his view of a strong outlook for the US economy on his second day of testimony. Crude oil prices edged higher in Asian trades after rising overnight. China stocks dropped despite moves by the central bank to encourage more bank lending, as persistent yuan weakness hit airline stocks. Among the other Asian markets, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore are higher. Bucking the trend, Nikkei, and South Korea are in negative territory.
Hang Seng added 6.35 points or 0.02% to 28,123.77, Taiwan Weighted gained 9.46 points or 0.09% to 10,851.92, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 8.20 points or 0.47% to 1,761.27, Jakarta Composite spurt 10.21 points or 0.17% to 5,900.94, and Straits Times up by 31.14 points or 0.95% to 3,271.64.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 dropped 24.46 points or 0.11% to 22,769.73, KOSPI Index contracted 8.17 points or 0.36% to 2,281.94, and Shanghai Composite down by 15.12 points or 0.55% to 2,772.14.
