Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading higher on Thursday, in line with the positive trend from wall street overnight after the release of upbeat corporate earnings results. Luxury electric car maker Tesla reported a surprise third-quarter profit. software giant Mircrosoft reported results for the first quarter that beat street expectations. However, uncertainty over Brexit and the US-China trade war capped some gains. Japan's Nikkei is in positive lead with the weaker safe heaven yen. Among the other Asian markets, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Indonesia are in positive trend. Bucking the trend, South Korea, Shanghai and Malaysia are trading lower.
Nikkei 225 up 133.51 points 0.59% to 22,758.89, Straits Times rose 25.86 points or 0.82% to 3,170.14, Hang Seng increased 124.38 points or 0.47% to 26,691.11, Taiwan Weighted widened 33.60 points or 0.30% to 11,273.27, and Jakarta Composite enlarged by 52.01 points or 0.83% to 6,309.82,
On the flip side, KOSPI Index diminished 0.46 points or 0.02% to 2,080.16, Shanghai narrowed 6.37 points 0.22% to 2,935.25 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI contracted 1.59 points or 0.10% to 1,567.20.
