Most Asian markets gain following Donald Trump's comment on the US dollar

Most Asian stock market indices were trading higher on Wednesday (18 January), with the Shanghai Composite up 0.47% at 3,123.26 as of 5.35am GMT. This followed Donald Trump's comment on the US dollar.

The US president-elect said the American currency was very strong, which reportedly made it harder for US companies to compete with China.

While Trump's comments prompted the US currency to fall to a one-month low, it led investors to purchase exporter stocks, which in turn led to a bullish trend in the Asian stock markets.

"Trump's comments on the dollar has helped relieve downward pressure on the renminbi and on Chinese equities and we have seen a steady pick up in capital flows from mainland investors into Hong Kong stocks," Alex Wong, portfolio manager at Ample Capital was quoted as saying by Reuters.

That said, a few analysts were not too sure if this bull run would continue. This was amid concerns over China. Gene Frieda, portfolio manager at bond giant PIMCO, explained that while economic growth in the world's second largest economy seemed stable in early 2017, a slowdown by the second quarter "appears inevitable" amid an ever-increasing debt in the Asian country.

Indices in the region were trading as follows at 5.47am GMT:

On 17 Jan, the FTSE 100 Index closed 1.46% lower at 7,220.38, while the S&P 500 index closed 0.30% lower at 2,267.89

Among commodities, oil prices increased amid a weaker US dollar. As of 12.39am EST, WTI Crude Oil was trading 0.38% higher at $52.68 (£42.70) a barrel, while Brent Crude was trading 0.36% higher at $55.67 a barrel.