Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading in green on Wednesday, following the optimism spread by the positive earnings and speculation peaked that US and Chinese negotiators will hold face-to-face trade talks soon. The bipartisan agreement to raise the US debt ceiling to fund the government for another two years, avoiding another painful shutdown also cheered the market sentiments. The Japanese stocks also extending the gains with the modest gains from Wall Street overnight, and on a weaker yen. Meanwhile, Japan's May data for its leading and coincident indexes, as well as preliminary July numbers for the manufacturing PMI from Nikkei will be released today. Among the other Asian markets, Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia are in positive lead. Bucking the trend, Taiwan, South Korea and Indonesia are in negative territory.
Nikkei 225 up 91.47 points or 0.42% to 21,712.35, Straits Times jump 7.59 points or 0.23% to 3,380.72, Hang Seng widen 263.93 points or 0.93% to 28,730.41, Shanghai rise by 29.23 points 1.01% to 2,929.17, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI up 1.60 points or 0.10% to 1,657.27.
On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted diminish 8.24 points or 0.08% to 10,939.02, KOSPI Index dips 6.88 points or 0.33% to 2,094.57, and Jakarta Composite contracts by 12.39 points or 0.19% to 6,391.42.
