Asian markets trade mostly higher in early deals on Thursday

Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Thursday, tracking the modest gains overnight on Wall Street and the increase in crude oil prices from four-month lows. However, investors turned cautious as they await the Bank of England’s highly anticipated monetary policy announcement later today. Analysts expect an interest rate cut by the bank in response to the Brexit-induced economic uncertainty. Among the other Asian markets, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Malaysia are up with modest gains. Bucking the trend, Chinese shares declined for the first time in three days as the central bank said it will maintain prudent monetary policy.

Nikkei 225 added 72.19 points or 0.45% to 16,155.30, Hang Seng gained 122.36 points or 0.56% to 21,861.48, Jakarta Composite increased 23.94 points or 0.45% to 5,375.81, Taiwan Weighted rose 1.13 points or 0.01% to 9,002.84, Straits Times surged 8.42 points or 0.30% to 2,836.00, KOSPI Index jumped 4.44 points or 0.22% to 1,999.23, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 3.47 points or 0.21% to 1,651.97.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was down by 5.80 points or 0.19% to 2,972.66.