Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading higher in the early deals on Friday, tracking the overnight gains on Wall Street and on some bargain hunting after recent weakness. However, amid uncertainty about the health of the global economy, the mood is somewhat cautious in most of the markets in the region. Investors are also looking ahead to the data on Chinese retail sales and industrial production, both for the month of November. On the regional front, the Japanese stock market advanced on the back of the overnight gains on Wall Street and a weaker yen. The yen declined for a second day before weekend elections forecast to renew Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s mandate for economic policies that have weighed on the currency. China’s stocks were little changed as the benchmark index erased an advance before the release of industrial production data. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea are notably higher. Indonesia and Hong Kong are up marginally, while Shanghai and Malaysia is trading weak.
Nikkei 225 surged by 254.59 points or 1.48% to 17,511.99, Hang Seng soared 19.47 points or 0.08% to 23,332.01, KOSPI Index increased by 6.60 points or 0.34% to 1,923.19, Straits Times gained 15.14 points or 0.46% to 3,333.84, Jakarta Composite added 1.75 points or 0.03% to 5,154.44 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 42.02 points or 0.47% to 9,055.09.
On the flip side, Shanghai Composite tumbled by 0.10 points or 2,925.64 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 4.53 points or 0.26% to 1,740.04.