Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Friday, due to the overnight cues from Wall Street, where stocks closed higher following the pullback by the U.S. dollar. In addition, disappointing U.S. retail sales data cooled expectations for an early interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve. Further, Japanese shares extended gains as industrial robot maker Fanuc jumped more than 10 percent on a report that it will consider raising its dividend and buying back stock. Among the other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Shanghai, South Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Taiwan are all trading higher. Bucking the trend, Singapore and Indonesia are marginally lower.
Nikkei 225 jumped 283.88 points or 1.49% to 19,274.99, Hang Seng rose 68.94 points or 0.29% to 23,866.90, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI added 0.08 points to 1,786.94, KOSPI Index surged 18.90 points or 0.96% to 1,989.49, Taiwan Weighted gained 9.76 points or 0.10% to 9,608.10 and Shanghai Composite was up by 14.23 points or 0.42% to 3,363.55.
On the flip side, Jakarta Composite declined 11.75 points or 0.22% to 5,428.08 and Straits Times was down by 7.13 points or 0.21% to 3,366.47.