Asian equity benchmarks are mostly trading higher in the morning deals on Wednesday, with the overnight positive close in the US and European markets and a firm trend in commodity prices lifting sentiment. Slightly easing worries about Ukraine, hopes of fresh stimulus measures in Europe and China, six-year high US consumer confidence, and buoying investor optimism about the outlook for the world’s biggest economy, also contributed to the firm trend. Japanese market rose tracking cues from Wall Street where the major averages moved higher overnight on upbeat consumer confidence data, though the gains were capped following media reports that North Korea launched a missile into the Sea of Japan. On the economic front, an index monitoring corporate service prices in Japan was up 0.7 percent on year in February, standing at 96.5 that were unchanged from the January reading following a downward revision from 0.8 percent. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Indonesia and Taiwan are trading notably higher, while Shanghai and Malaysia are trading weak.
Hang Seng gained 235.79 points or 1.08% to 21,968.11, Jakarta Composite strengthened by 21.29 points or 0.45% to 4,724.38, Nikkei 225 soared 14.46 points or 0.10% to 14,437.65, Straits Times rose 34.78 points or 1.12% to 3,138.95, KOSPI Composite surged by 21.87 points or 1.13% to 1,963.12 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 48.30 points or 0.56% to 8,737.60.
On the flip side, Shanghai Composite declined by 2.81 points or 0.14% to 2,064.50 and KLSE Composite was down by 0.36 points or 0.02% to 1,836.81.