Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading in green in the early deals on Thursday, despite the negative cues overnight from Wall Street as higher commodity prices lifted resources stocks. Japanese stocks fell on concerns about slowing corporate earnings growth. Among the other Asian markets, Singapore, South Korea, and Malaysia are higher. Bucking the trend, Indonesia is lower. The markets in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong remain closed for the Lunar New Year holidays.
Straits Times gained 29.60 points or 0.93% to 3,214.16, KOSPI Shares improved 4.31 points or 0.20% to 2,207.77, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI up by 5.91 points or 0.35% to 1,689.52.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 dipped 117.14 points or 0.56% to 20,756.92, and Jakarta Composite down by 8.77 points or 0.13% to 6,539.11.
