The Asian equity benchmarks are trading up in the early deals on Monday, despite a negative lead from Wall Street on Friday and a strong US dollar generated buying in exporters' stocks across the region. However, worries about Greece weighed on the sentiment. The Japanese market gained by ongoing optimism for higher shareholder returns and the recovering economy. Among the other markets in the Asian region, Japan, Shanghai, Singapore and Taiwan are higher. Meanwhile, Indonesia and Malaysia are lower. The stock markets in South Korea and Hong Kong are closed on Monday for Buddha's birthday.
Nikkei 225 spurt 125.18 points or 0.62% to 20,389.59, Shanghai Composite gained 108.09 points or 2.32% to 4,765.69, Straits Times increased 7.80 points or 0.23% to 3,457.98 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 5.20 points or 0.05% to 9,644.00.
On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI declined 17.52 points or 0.98% to 1,769.98 and Jakarta Composite was down by 22.23 points or 0.42% to 5,292.93.