Asian markets trade higher in early deals on Wednesday

18 Dec 2013 Evaluate

Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading in the green in early deals on Wednesday led by Japanese Nikkei, which surged over one and a half percent, as the country saw a merchandise trade deficit of 1.292 trillion yen in November, beating forecasts for a shortfall of 1.351 trillion yen. Meanwhile, exports climbed 18.4 percent on year, beating expectations for an increase of 18.0 percent following the 18.6 percent jump in the previous month. Imports spiked by an annual 21.1 percent versus the forecasted increase of 21.4 percent following the revised 26.2 percent jump a month earlier. However, gains in several Asian counters remained capped with investors treading cautiously ahead of outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s final meeting of 2013.

Hang Seng rose 147.39 points or 0.64% to 23,216.62, Jakarta Composite strengthened 19.02 points or 0.45% to 4,201.37, Nikkei 225 surged 240.40 points or 1.57% to 15,519.03, Straits Times increased 1.63 points or 0.05% to 3,069.20, Seoul Composite gained 8.69 points or 0.44% to 1,974.43 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 2.68 points or 0.03% to 8,355.61.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite slipped 0.85 points or 0.04% to 2,150.23 and KLSE Composite was down by 2.00 points or 0.11% to 1,848.90.

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