Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Friday, shrugging off the weak cues overnight from Wall Street. The Japanese market dropped after weaker-than-expected US housing data soured the mood, while investors awaited Japanese corporate earnings starting next week. Among other markets in the Asian region, Shanghai, South Korea, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Malaysia are also in positive territory. Singapore, Taiwan and Japan are trading lower.
Hang Seng surged 141.25 points or 0.51 % to 27,880.96, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 0.24 points or 0.01 % to 1,848.18, KOSPI Index jumped 3.90 points or 0.18 % to 2,143.80, Shanghai Composite added 86.57 points or 2.06 % to 4,281.39 and Jakarta Composite was up by 0.04 points to 5,420.78.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 declined 171.66 points or 0.86% to 19,714.11, Taiwan Weighted contracted 78.27 points or 0.81% to 9,578.60 and Straits Times was down by 8.74 points or 0.25% to 3,522.87.