Most of the Asian equity benchmarks traded higher in early deals on Thursday, as the markets sentiments got boosted after the dovish comments from Federal Reserve’s Jerome Powel and as the latest readings pointed that US economy strengthened moderate to robust from late May to early July, boosting the prospects of a faster global economic rebound. Although, lingering concerns over the accelerating COVID-19 infections of the highly contagious delta variant in several markets limited gains. Technological stocks gained modestly in the session. Banking stocks and miners were also majorly in upward momentum. Japan’s Nikkei tumbled, extending previous sessional losses with the benchmark holding below 28,300, as the investors remained cautious on the mounting new wave of coronavirus cases, particularly in Olympic city Tokyo. Among the Asian markets, Hong Kong Taiwan, South Korea, Indonesia China and Malaysia, are trading higher .Bucking the trend, Japan and Singapore traded lower.
Hang Seng up by 339.06 points or 1.22% to 28,126.52, Taiwan Weighted rose by 142.56 points or 0.80% to 17,988.31, KOSPI widened 15.46 points or 0.47% to 3,280.40, Jakarta Composite lifted by 47.69 points 0.80% to 6,026.91, Shanghai Composite buoyed by 8.21 points or 0.23% to 3,536.71 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI added by 7.83 points 0.52% to 1,520.15.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 down by 319.82 points or 1.12% to 28,288.67, Straits Times narrowed 12.29 points or 0.39% to 3,140.86.