Asian stocks pare losses, China turns positive

The Asian equity markets are seen reversing losses as markets cheer the FOMC minutes released late-Wednesday, which revealed that Fed was in no hurry to hike rates.

While renewed selling seen in the yen against the greenback on the back of ongoing jawboning attempts by the Japanese officials, also allows a tepid-bounce in the Japanese stocks, lifting rest of Asia higher.

However, the recovery looks fragile as oil prices fell back in the red amid omnipresent oversupply concerns. Meanwhile, the Chinese indices remain underpinned by the recent reports of the approval of Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect.

The Japanese benchmark index, the Nikkei 225 trades -0.19% lower at 16,714. The Australian markets pare losses, with the S&P/ASX 200 now trading -0.49% at 5,507 points.

The Chinese equities trade marginally higher, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite index up +0.12%; the CSI300 index also gain +0.10%. While Hong Kong jumps +1.48% to trade around 23,140 levels.