Asian markets trade mostly higher in early deals on Wednesday

Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading higher in the early deals on Wednesday, tracking the positive cues overnight from Wall Street after dovish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen offset recent speculation that the Fed will raise interest rates at its next meeting toward the end of April. However, the Japanese market is modestly lower, as the yen strengthened against the US dollar. Japan's industrial output in the month of February fell more than expected also weighed on investor sentiment. The industrial production in Japan fell a seasonally adjusted 6.2 percent on month in February. Among the other Asian markets, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia are also in positive territory.

Hang Seng surged 288.63 points or 1.42% to 20,654.93, Shanghai Composite increased 41.99 points or 1.44% to 2,961.82, Jakarta Composite gained 26.92 points or 0.56% to 4,808.21, Straits Times strengthen 36.82 points or 1.31% to 2,855.90, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI jumped 3.74 points or 0.22% to 1,718.78, KOSPI Index spurt 6.00 points or 0.30% to 2,000.91, and Taiwan Weighted was up by 109.74 points or 1.27% to 8,727.09.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was down by 126.65 points or 0.74% to 16,976.88.