Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading higher on Thursday after US President Donald Trump said that a trade deal with China will come sooner than expected. In addition, the US and Japan signed a limited trade deal, under which Japan will open new markets to about $7 billion in US agricultural products, boosted the market sentiments. Even though, worries about a US Presidential impeachment inquiry on dealings with his Ukraine counterpart, trimmed some gains. Japan's Nikkei traded mostly higher in line with positive cues from Wall Street and on a weaker yen. Among the other Asian markets, Hong Kong, South Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia are in positive note. Bucking the trend, Singapore, Taiwan and Shanghai, are in negative territory.
Nikkei 225 up 60.96 points 0.28% to 22,081.11, Hang Seng increased 40.48 points or 0.16% to 25,985.83, KOSPI Index rose 2.19 points or 0.11% to 2,075.58, Jakarta Composite widened by 42.09 points or 0.68% to 6,188.49, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI enlarged 2.59 points or 0.16% to 1,592.17.
On the flip side, Straits Times narrowed 0.26 points or 0.01% to 3,125.54, Taiwan Weighted declined 7.83 points or 0.07% to 10,865.86, and Shanghai diminished 21.46 points 0.73% to 2,933.97.
